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Show KAISER UNMASKED. No revelations have h:ul a more important, im-portant, bearing on the war than those nihlinlicd exclusively in The Tribune about two weeks ago, giving the secret correspondence of tho kaiser and czar, in whirh they arranged a treaty which was to isolate Great Britain. The sequel se-quel is a statement by Alexander P. .lawolsky, mentioned in one of the notes uf the kaiser to tho czar. Iswolsky was Russian minister to Copenhagen at the titno of the secret correspondence treaty and to him Emperor William disclosed his plan first to tnako a treaty with Russia and then to force France into it, for j''r;ince, the kaiser argued, could Dot afford to go it alone in the European struggle. Taken by itself, this some-hat ancient history would have littles significance, but whea we cousider it from the viewpoint view-point of tho war r. if begin to understand where the responsibility for the conflict lies, and we s"e the kaiser stripped of his mask of benevolence, looming as the j most sinister figure of modern times. Tt was fairly manifest to the world at the vr.t-y outset that Germany was respoiu.ilile, or mainly responsible, for thy present war. And yet there was a - disposition to lie lenient with Emperor ! lllieliu. lie was so voluble, so appar ently sincere in representing hiirjself as an advocate of peace, that tho world wished to accept him at his word. "When the lightning struck he was on his yacht, cruising pleasantly in Scandinavian waters. He hurried back to Berlin, and, so the world was led to believe, found all the pins set for war, and was compelled com-pelled to give his assent to what was practically a fait accompli. It is true that he conducted the final negotiations, that made tho war inevitable, but the friendly feeling for him all over the world persuaded people to believe that he was in some way the unwilling instrument in-strument of military chieftains who had precipitated the war whilo he was away. The emperor's talk with Iswolsky shows him at a time when he was not posing for the public. lie was then a malevolent monarch, plotting for the aggrandizement of his empire at the expense of his neighbors. He spoke frankly because he saw no reason to conceal his thoughts. lie admitted that he had worked up 1c celebrated "Moroccan "Mo-roccan crisis'" for the specific purpose of challenging France to war. And because be-cause France refused to fight the Itai-ser Itai-ser maintained that tho question of Al-sace-Lorraino must be considered defi-nitelv defi-nitelv and permanently removed from the domain of controversy. Iswolsky had told tho emperor that so lone as the question of Alsace-Lor raine remained unsettled it was idle to hope that France would join any alliance al-liance of which Germany was a member. mem-ber. "Pardon me.'' rejoined the emperor, "but that question is settled.'' "I don't, understand, sire," said the Knssian minister. "It is indeed settled," said the emperor. em-peror. "In the Moroccan affair I threw down the gauntlet to France. France refused to take it up. She refused to fight me. Consequently the question of Alsaee-Lorraino no longer exists between be-tween us. ' ' Here was no pious monarch preaching peace. Here wa tho "nil highest" war lord runuing up anil down the world looking for trouble and daring his neighbors to fight. Publicly, of course, he was just as much an advocate of peace as he has feigned to be since he caused the mortal conflict of nations. And he is just as much of a hypocrite now as he was then. That is the unavoidable un-avoidable conclusion if wo accept the statement of Iswolsky at its face value, and there seems to be no good reason for questioning the truth of his revelations. reve-lations. But perhaps it is not just to say that the emperor cold-bloodedly thirsted for war. He was willing to keep the peace if it gave to Germany all he had planned for her. If it kept him from the attainment at-tainment of any of his ambitious for Germany and for his dynasty then he was ready and willing to make war. He hated Great Britain and France be- .mi?' they stood in his way. When he challenged Franco to fight through his I manipulation of the Moroccan crisis his j purpose was to see whether he could ; not eliminate France and then ilea! with Great Britain. He discovered to his chagrin that Great Britain and France proposed to bland together and he was also informed by his bankers that while Germany was ready in a military sense, she was not prepared financially. And no the kaiser waited until July, 1914, before he hurled his final challenge and brought on war. |