PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13890, 16 October 1918, Page 4

PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY

President Wilson's reply to fl,. r "JiUl.vs note was prompt and plain, 'it should onYefvely remove any lingeri, g HV«-s Urn (.erimin j.cople n,av vet Hue,^ 'ire tho K; f n ;i " '» l*™»tt*d to escape the full penalty for their nationa cranes against civilisation Complete and iinr-undition.il surrender ;' i ' UsL 'V' 11 ' lm ' h,de ta an > armis- ,"• ,W t! , ' Vt,y .P° SBiW « Precaution against their armies being aide to again take the field. The decision will be received with unqualified satisfaction throughout the civilised world for hough all are war weary and anxious '"'• peace, it is plainly recognised that when peace docs come it must bo peace indeed—not an armed truce such as held the world in thraldom tor manv decades prior 'to .Inly, 1914. To ensure this it is necessary that the Prussian Ingle's talons shall not be merely clipped but drawn altogether, and it is gratifying to know that the statesmen of the Entente Powers are fully alive to the fact. It cannot be forgotten that the war was the outcome of Germany's ambition; she deliberately schemed and plotted for its outbreak, and. for over 111 years had been most assidiously preparing for it. Her people were encouraged to glory, and revel in the contemplation of ' blood letting, from which as a nation they expected to reap immense advantages. '•'heir plans, however, have miscarried. They anticipated to despoil their adversaries, but they themselves have suffered ruin, and the edifice which they have so laboriously built un is now tottering to its collapse. Their one concern at present is to escape the fate they so deliberately planned for others, and in order to deceive and beguile those whom they wish to placate, they aio adopting the role of quick change artists. Kaisers, Chancellors, and Generals are following each other on the boards with bewildering rapidity; it being sought to impress the Entente Powers with the belief tkat to replace one Hohenzollern with another to disrate an Hertling and set up a Solf. or a Kchiedemann, and to ring the changes on a few generals is all that is necessary to regenerate Germany. The Allies, hov.c :r. refuse to be convinced. President Wilson, in his reply, points out that while the Germans are suing for peace they are actually perpetrating the selfsame horrors which compelled the United States to enter the lists against them, and this while Germany professes to be under the regime not of a military autocracy but of a democratic government, one of the chief disciples of which can attempt to justify the outrages and devastation wrought in France and Belgium, on the ground of military necessity. There is no sign of a change of heart in Germany. The national conscience has not yet awakened, and the people apparently are still unable to recognise the enormitv of their crimes against mankind. President Wilson's reply should assist them to do so.