GERMAN PEACE DRIVE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12351, 22 June 1918, Page 12

GERMAN PEACE DRIVE.

FOREIGN PACIFISTS IN SWEDEN. Rolling m Wealth, They Sob of War's Hardships. PARTS, April 26.—There are two offensives in progress in Europe to-day. »t one m which Germany j s pushing forward her last man, we have been heannjr daily. Of the other, in which Germany 13 employing; her keenest minds, wo have had but a glimpse. Mere and thsre, from some nrvptic cuspatch, we havo heard that the "\Vilhelmstrasse, fearful of the consequences of the much heralded offensive in the west and in a desperate effort to head off the certain defeat of her armies, especially before American reserves arrive on the scene, has launched a peace offensive. That, too, is a "kolossal" offensive, transcending in magnitude anything of a like nature undertaken by Berlin. Stockholm, that Mecca for all tho breeds of pacifism, is the headquarters of the other offensive. A correspondent of '• Lo Matin " s end s a telegraphio picture of tho Swedish capital, where espionage and pacifism go hand in hand, playing the Kaiser's game under the guise of international brotherhood. He writes:— Before I went to Stockholm I was ignorant of how the ears .of the enemy were made—those famous ears that ever listened to us. Now I know- ■ I have seen them—big hairy ones. And I have seen also tiny pink ones, adorned with precious pearls. GERMAN MONEY EVERYWHERE. Th Stockholm, apart from the few trustworthy men, the few Swedish statesmen, no one knows where German money begins or ends. A charming young man sits down next to me in the cafe one evening. "You, know," he obligingly says to me, "that old gentleman with the white beard that you meet hero is simply an agent of'the German Government." V I thank him. But the next evening the old gentleman with the white beard takes mo aside and whispers in. my ear: "I think I ought to warn you; the charming young man with whom you spoke last evening has been sent fcc Stockholm by tho eenth Imperial Bureau. If I tell you this it's because I really havo tdie interests of France at heart, because, you see, to me France—"' Finally you become accustomed to see around you nothing but spies. At night in a magnificent cafe, built since tho war (for since tho war much money has been made in Sweden), in a sumptuous sotting of pink granite, of plav. ing fountains -and palm trees, you find them oil gathered. There are boiuc at every table- Besides, the head waiter, who spoke a fairly good French, helped me to fit names to all these faces: There at the right, the little grey-headed gentleman with the anxious air is the Count von Luscius. Ministry of Germany. His neighbour with a big black moustache is the Baron von Hoppeln, head of the German espionage system. The respectful way in which the head waiter pronounces this title shows me that he must have learned his French in Berlin. "And the attractive young woman sitting beside the Baron?" I ask. " She is tho little stenographer at the German legation," the head waiter tells me. SHE SENDS A NOTE. This little stenographer, by the way, is a most amiable person. Several times in passing she smiled at mo in a charming way. Once when she was alone she sent me, by a limping waiter, who is said to bo a discharged German officer, a little note in a pink envelope. "I am nob smiling at you," she wrote, "but at the memory'of Paris. which is the most beautiful city in the world." On the back of tho note I found this brief postscript: "I am a Viennese." There are also Turks in this beautiful pink granite cafe, and these speak French by preference. There are also Hindus, who arguo against the English tyranny. Persians, Irish, Georgians, Ukrainians. All these poor peoples oppressed by the Entente have made this their meeting place. Every evening while drinking their " Gott strafe England" (that's what they call the brown liquid which since the blockade has replaced coffee) they mingle their tears over the fate of their countries. But seeing them so fat, so pink, so elaborately dressed; seeing the chains that adorn their plump stomachs and the diamonds they wear on their finger.-, no one would believe they are as oppressed as they say. The secret of their opulence is easy to discover. All you need to do is to pay a visit to the bureaux of the oppressed nationalities to convince yourself that not only the very "Munich" furnishings, but "also the directors themselves, are plainly made in Germany. Besides all this, the war ha 3 thrown upon the streets of Stockholm queer personages debecked with strange and new titles- The most conspicuous ono among them is the King of I'krainia, Prince J hy name. A few months ago he had only a <dim •'beliof in his rights to tho throne of the. Ukraine. An American newspaper man gave him his crown. Throughout the Swoosh which ;> tno m:isi ■-ledulous in the «<>iid,

Lin's correspondent started the rumour that the candidate to the throne of the Lkraino was stopping at a certain hotel. The next morning a crowd of reporters besieged tho doors of tho prince. Tho first one was sent-a way; tho second was ,very insistent and the pi-inco began to think. The third was given permission to take a photograph «! the pretender; the others finally were granted copious interviews. PRINCE IS CROWNED KING. Tho nest morning tbo Prince was crowned King. Now when ho makes his entrancD people stand aside to let him pass. He casts threatening glances to tho group of Bolshevikis who fit bundled together in the back of | the room. for since Brest-Litovsk the Bolsheriki3 of Stockholm arc not very proud. They feel a bit ridiculous, tbey hide themselves, and I have heard Ziermann. the first secretary of the Maximalist legation, make this disillusioned remark: ''What a dirty trade mine is. How T regret the days when I was a movie cctor. When shall wo reallv have peace?" This remark is the leit motif of all conversation in Stockholm. You hear it said at all the tables, by the Bodies, by the Austro-Boches, by the Turks and by the Hindus, by tho prettv Viennese rnd by tho gentleman who calls himself the correspondent of the •'Triple K Agency" (Kaiserlich-Koe-nigliche-Korrespondenz bureau). For ft whole year all this jumble has been ?ent from Berlin to say and to say again this same- phrase. As soon as it is known that you come from France you are assailed on all sides, surrounded. Innumerable "friends of France" come up an'! present themselves to you. " All sensible men should unite to force their Governments to make peace." This is what you hear every moment fiom voice i which make themselves tearful and emotional. But if your ear was keen enough to Ifear what tltey say when they whisper in soft tones among theniselvrts jou would not doubt that the guiding spirit of this pacifist offensive is ihe same man who to-day is trying to break the front in the west.