THE REAL KAISER DURING THE WAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15321, 17 September 1920, Page 4

THE REAL KAISER DURING THE WAR.

♦ ' — « DIAEY OF AN ENGLISH WITE IX BERLIN. (By Sir Philip. Gibbs.) LONDON, July 7.— Princess Blucher, an English lady whose German husbauo was well-know,*", before tho war m England where he mostly lived, was iv tin tragic case of many v«omen who had tc go to the enemy's country when hostilities began and to find, .f they could, some moral compromise between loyalty to the people of their husband's race anu their allegiance m blood and spirit lo England, which was theirs. This lady, Evelyn,. Princess Blucher, like many others of less exalted rank., had brothers, cousins, nephews, lighting on our side of the lines, while she, surrounded by her husband's people, had to hide her agony at the news of German victories, her pride m British successes, ber loathing of many acts done by soldiers or statesmen of the Fatherland. She was able, by this conflict within her, to see both sides of tho struggle with a pity not blinded by hatred, and with a sensitive understanding of tragedy which swept across the frontiers of race. In her book, compiled from her diaries, she gives, with intimate know-, ledge, the most wonderful and convincing picture of German life and thought during those years of war which has yet been published to the world. THE FIRST FRENZY. I We see, m the 'early •part of her diary, ] the first frenzy of patriotism wliich stirred .the- German nation when their armies moved towards the frontiers to the song of the "Waeht'am Rhein." "I think I shall hear these words ringing iv my ears to my dying day. The whole life of Germany seems to move to the rhythm of this tune. Every day troops pa^s by my window on their way to the. station, and as they march along to this refrain people rush to the windows and doors of the houses and take up the song, so that it rings through tbe streets, almost like a solemn vow sung by these men on their way to death." Very quickly came whispers of atrocity charges made against the German troops m Belgium, and coun tor-charges against tlieir enemies.. Kelgian women and children had gouged out the eyes of wounded officers, it was said. The Russians were doing unspeakable things. Tlie English were using dum-duin biillets. In Berlin spy mania was developed intensely and attacked women especially, as m England. As m England the people were convinced they were fighting *a war of self-defence. Passion and credulity were extraordinarily alike m: both countries. Then m Germany came dfeubts and disillusionment and gradually despair. Tho fact&.tbout the first battle of the Marne were long m leaking out. As late as September 23 Princess Blucher writes : "Nothing definite is known as to the fato of the Germans round Paris. It is a harder fight than people anticipated." But from officers /-who ;on me back from the front tho truth was known at last, and after that' the costly failure of the battles round Ypres, when the Germans .tried to force their way to Calais. "I think the Emperor has set his heart on. this more than on anything else m the world," writes Princess Blucher. Of the Kaiser's part m the war she hears much from people close to him, and the portrait she presents of him is of a nervous, harassed man, badly advised, . and dominated by his military chiefs . . . and "always suspected " of pro-English feeling. Falkeii'hayn. and the others kept him ignorant, of the truth about the state, of the war, and high peoplo spoke of him with. contempt. "Send him to tl.* East when there are - some prisoners to 1 '.arch past and he will be pleased; and ag: m- to the West when there is a little success to show him, and he will be as p'li *scd as ever. Whilst the Emperor himself, complained 6adly m ; the same words, *I never know what I am going to dp from cne day to another. To-day ''l .am packed up and sent off to the East, and to-mbrro.v to, the West.' " ( As for the, Emperoi's six eons, the people growled because they were too care- ] fully guarded- and because one or other ■; of them was always getting marrfed. They did not die like the only sons of widows. ■ '< "The fact of the matter is," said a Mm- ] ister, "one. of the Kaiser's sons ought to be sacrificed to appease the people." Tho Empress devoted herself to. hospital work, but was not always happy ov ; sure of gratitude, v . l ■ "I don't want your roses'," Raid a blind- ; ed soldier to. whom she offered a bouquet. ' "Give me back my eyes." ' The Kaiser seems to have been against ! ihe unrestricted U boat war. and aroirsed i the fury of Tirpitz. Kuhhnann, the Chan- i cellor, and the Foreign Office as a whole, j denounced that policy. ] "The military party, the 'raving Ro- , lands/ are doing all they can to.«bstruct j the peace movement, and Ludcndorff and • Kuhlmann have almost come to blows. There were some exciting scenes between . the two last week, and people have told . J me that the cold-blooded, strong-nerved 1 impassive - Kuhlmann was almost on the 1 verge of a breakdown. More and' moro he 3 and his adherents are perceiving the fatal V mistakes of the U war, and the j madness, of ever allowing things ' to go.] bo far that America should .enter the war."-. i That was at the beginning .of 1918, ; after, long dreary years during which German. mentality, apart from the military party whose mentality was pnof against all light, had gradually > aid utterly changed, so that they realised the hopelessness of victory, the insanity of so much massacre, the inevitable doom" of Germany if sho failed to get per.ee. Even their hatreds had died! out*. German officers sang the praises of English soldiers and English prisoners. "You* cannot make an English officer grumble or complain," said one, Gorman officer to me.. "If he does not like a thing, well, he bears it m a dignified way, or else he turns it off as a joke. •Nothing makes some?- of our German officers moro mad with rage than when they go and shout out their commands m the highly dictatorial manner some of them have, and find that' the command is only received with a jhorus of laughter from English officers." 1^ German soldiers back from the front spoke of the English as "fine men to fight . against," jfcid denied stories of . cruelty, and denounced the hatred they found .behind the lines. "We- all 'do our best for our own country," said one man, "and if we meet' as prisoners or otherwise we ( are perfectly friendly ; but," ho added, sadly, "there must bo something wrong (somewhere to make lis so hated by all oibcr nations as well as by our own allies. Who is to blamo for it? That is what my comrndes nnd I aro always trying to find out." Princess Blucher makes it clear that many of the Germans understood why they wer<». so much hated, and deplored the villainy of such acts as the execution of Nurso Cavell, tho sinking of hospital kKhips, the ill-treatment of prisoners done lby men Incurably wicked and incurably stupid. She shows also the best side of the German spirit, tlieir long-enduring courage, the, patience m suffering of tho civilian classes, the kindness and charity of many human souls not poisoned by the yenom of war. Tho spirit and body of the Ger«oan people was weakened by bad food, the Ersatz" or chemical substitutes which took the place of natural products. As far back as March 1916, eho writes:— "I do not believe that Germany will ever be starved out, bub she will be poisoned out first by these substitutes." One tragic episode m her book relates the appearance of Sir Roger Casement, the Irish rebel, whom she regarded, as "al blot on the face qf the earth," though she pitied him for his madness. He came to her and "sobbed like a child" before his last adventure qn the coast of Ireland. "They are holding a pistol to my head here if I refuse," he said, "and they have a hangman's rope ready for me m England, and so \ho oply thing for me to do is to go and hang myself." There aro a hundred anecdotes worth quoting from this book if there were apace, and the last pages describing the approach of defeat, the final downfall, and tho scenes of revolution are very vivid ari3 enthralling. Few peoplo now will disagree with ber conclusions that all women who suffered the agony of the war as she dfd m tho enemy's country— l think all men and women everywhere— should try to work for the reconciliation of the. world, and for the healing of wound? caused m many natious by so much hatred and strife. .'