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Show i THE CITIZEN 18 the breakdown became more and more imminent: strongly opposed by Hindenburg and Ludendorff lias hud a nervous breakThe army is practlcay In a state of mutiny, and one whole division Is said to have already surrendered. The soldiers, they say, are already turning on their officers and throwing hand grenades at them, and a train full of officers returning from leave back to the front was stopped, and they were all forced to get out anil return home. At the same time one hears of innumerable soldiers writing home indignant at the proposition of an armistice, and saying they will not hear of one on the terms proposed by the Entente. The population of the Rhine provinces are shuddering at the idea of the huge German army settling down to winter quarters in their land, as they say there is no more discipline left. I even heard of people in Frankfort being privately advised to leave, as it has been whispered the enemy might possibly be there in a fortnight. In any case, exaggerated as these reports may he, the universal demoralization of the people is very great, and one has sometimes the impression of a flock of sheep who have lost their leader and are going about in a dazed sort of manner, looking about for a loophole of escape from the impending evil. At the same time the poor soldiers declare that it is not so much the overpowering number of the American troops which has turned the tide, as the fact tluit there is no more rubber left to make and that they can not face the gas without them; and then the terrible English tanks. The poor fellows shudder at the very name of them. They say they were prepared for ten or twenty, but during the last few weeks they have been advancing in columns of Hundreds. Even the German officers admit that this form of weapon Is the first military Invention which has proved too much for the genius of German militarism. down. The emperor, we are told, never knew the strength of the American army. Ludendorff hid everything from him. The German offensive was whol-lthe work of Ludendorff and it was y by Prince Itupprecht: gas-mask- s, implicitly believed everything that was told by the military chiefs. He never even heard of great German defeats, but every small German success seemed to him to mean a German triumph. In October, 1918, we are old: The emperor Gebhard heard from the Duke of Schleswig-Hwhom he met in the Herre-hauthat the emperor does not mean to abdicate unless he is forced to. He was so terribly cut up by the bad news from the front that he collapsed and retired to bed for three days; but as soon as he received the news of some local success he quite cheered up again, and became as sanguine and hopeful as ever. This change of mood is typical of the Kaiser and all s, olstein, his entourage; they are entirely swayed by the news which is dished up to them by Ludendorlt, and seem incapable of. forming an independent opinion of their own, otherwise things could never have come tc such a pass. If the Kaiser had really investigated all the information of the last twelve months, and, above all, listened to the pessimisits, he would not have been so surprised by the turn things have taken now. The danger of actual revolution in Germany seems to have been greater than was realized here. The author speaks of the mobs that overran the streets of Berlin, the attacks upon officers, and the general violence that was the order of the day. In her last pages the princess gives us a concluding glimpse of the emperor after his flight to Amerongen. Writing in February, 1919; she says that she had been visited by a friend who had come straight from Amerongen, where he had spent two hours with the emperor: After having remained talking with the empress for about fifteen minutes he was taken down to the gallery in which the emperor takes his exercise daily, and there he walked with him for two hours. He told us the first sight of him was a great shock. The emperor has grown a long white beard; he brushes his now quite white hair straight back, and his complexion Is sallow and unhealthy; but he bore himself with great dignity and spoke quickly and with reserve. He said that he had felt from the beginning of his reign that the military powers were too strong for him. He had tried from the moment he came to the throne to assert his own authority, but he was too young and perhaps too impulsive. Later on he found that he was powerless in their hands, though he was always trying to break loose and work out Ins own ideas for his country. lie said that he had enough English blood in his veins to know that the only thing was to go in with England, but he was always talked over by his military authorities nad diplomats. Military authorities and diplomats of all countries are responsible for the war, not crowned heads. He will not own or realize that Germany did wrong in her invasion of Belgium. He says that he has proofs that if Germany had not done it England meant to; and that England had made a secret treaty with the Belgian king at the time Lord Haldane was in office, to the effect that they would be permitted to attack Germany through Belgium if necessary. He would not blame any of his generals by name. He says he knows what marvels they have done for him throughout the war in defending Germany against the whole world. It is only where they begin mixing themselves up with the political side that they made the blunders. The only man he blames personally by name is Prince Max of Baden, who, he says, deceived him from the moment he became Reichskanzler by telling him all was going well, and all the time allowing the ARTHUR L. THOMAS, JR. J. C. ADAMS ARTHUR L. THOMAS Insurance and Investment Company BOYD PARK BLDG. PHONES WASATCH 1901-31- 64 REPRESENTING: London and Lancashire Indemnity Co. Phoenix of London Columbia Insurance Co. Sun of London Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. Springfield Fire & Marine Ins. Co. Writing Insurance in all Forms |