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Show TLINE hages 1MU Imperial Chancel-(eclares Chancel-(eclares Submarine cy Is Winning. ,ins Because Presi-0sor Presi-0sor Has Turned vIi Peace Overtures. . Sfit. Count von Hert-erman Hert-erman imperial chancellor, in ' the main committer of the Heler.l:iy. declared that the warfare is slowly but surely j . allied tonnage. ),H" he said, "It is rostrictiiiK -l.ilion of reinforcements of Wprial from the United States. ) S "Kerllins, the German chan-! chan-! Addressing the reichstag main Joirplalned of the lack of at-.rouicscence at-.rouicscence in the four points i'?y l'rcsid(!nt Wilson as peace ' Zi mtt from lhe Anlerican ?Lellor asserted that on Fehru- tliis year he declared in the i ,k agreement in principle v.ith . iijiv of discussiuK a general 9 iJic'basis of the lour points of 'il--on's messaqo of February t President Wilson neither at nor since had taken notice of jlo'r'F declaration. Hi Hci'tlms continued by do-the do-the favored the formation of a rations, the promotion of uni-SVlve uni-SVlve disarmament In equal V the establishment of obligator obliga-tor arbitration, the freedom of nd the protection of small na- ! t Not Intended. r e never concealed the fact," ctllor von Hertlinjr In the lis address, "that all thoughts pits were far from our minds. c'o things stand on the oppo-If oppo-If one credited the utterances . emv, official and unofficial, l desire to repel a Germany Iminal arrogance is striving- for emony, to fight for freedom 1 ! against Get-man Imperialism Gi'i'an militarism, w better. The world war -was fears ago by the well-known )y policy of King Edward. In Mre arose extensive war litera- referred to impending war J.any. Austria-Hungary's influ-Balkans influ-Balkans was to be eliminated in expansion movement and the idea demanded it. Driest war fur is at present r T the United States. The people Lifted ullh the idea that Amer-rjlbring Amer-rjlbring the blessings of modern 'kur to the enslaved peoples of irope, while at the same time rejoicing at the many millions (Tviiich the war armaments are ) flow into the pockets of the nen. tferent Things. and practice are two differ-l differ-l The old proverb of the mote irf'e eye and the beam in one's i constant illustration in the ons of the entente. They are , 1 of condemning our march into l!i;but they pass over the oppros-eece, oppros-eece, the interference with thai, internal affairs and the eil-llcatlon eil-llcatlon of its king, jiil the Oerman people have to i.'t? Will it, forsooth, beg for Y (ear and trembling? No, gen-k:inembering gen-k:inembering iui great past and i ifater mission in the future, it '-'rert and not cringe or grovel. Ration is serious, but it gives uiid for dc2p depression. The yuf the western front Is not il die U-boat is slowly but sure- f its task of diminishing ton-Z3 ton-Z3 above yll' increasingly men-Z men-Z restricting reinforcements of tttenal from the United States. --Jr will come, because it must tl our enemies will see reason Rid)' lo make an end of the war ' the world is converted into a ..ns and the flower of its manly Kles dead on the battlelield!" ih to the question of peace the a then said that humanity shud-. shud-. t-e Inoucht that this war majors maj-ors and the question is engaging icon of more people as to the - of cieating an organization i.: peace needing nations which J n-M In the place of might u; 'te.nl solution instead of san-e. san-e. tiles. The chancellor pro- ' bwn, the president of the w Cw laid down i fourteen -smdlng lines for a conclusion January 24 of this vcar I your committee all " these ' regarding the last remarked J tea of a league of nations as TWI my entire sympathy on the I' an honest will to peace and Itlon of the equal rights of all lmue were guaranteed. -W'ssary was this reservation ;i, :y tne statements of our ene-n ene-n Icnsue of nations thought dllocled against Germany Wee League. ' Wilson took a further step Uhertion and laid down four ! mli'!' '', Ps whi'h in h's "Pinion PPlleil n an cxc,.,nlrc, 0- vio,u.Si 1"'iik speech of. February VI 'JWsril 'n principle in agree- ment with the possibility of discussing a general peace on such a basis. "President Wilson, however, has neither then nor since taken any notice of it. "Meanwhile the former idealist and zealous friend of peace seems to have developed into the head of the American imperialists. But the plan of a league of nations yet to be established is not to be discredited by such an action. It has found eloquent advocates in the Swiss president and the Norwegian premier, Knudsen, both of whom dwell especially on the interest of neutral states in such an institution. "I also do not hesitate to express my opinion again today on, this question and indicate publicly the aim and basis of such an association. It is a question of promoting universal, equal and successive succes-sive disarmament, the establishment of obligatory courts of arbitration, freedom of tile seas and the protection of small nations. "Regarding the first point on February -i I described the idea of restriction of armaments as thoughly discussable, adding add-ing that the financial position of ail the European states after the war would give the most effective support to a solution of this question. "Regarding the question of arbitration my standpoint has long been history. 1 will not go into details, but interesting material which I have before me shows that Germany in the past repeatedly suggested sug-gested arbitration of disputed questions, the carrying otit of which in several cases, however, was prevented by opposition raised in Great Britain or America. If an international understanding could be reached that disputed questions of law between various states must always be submitted to arbitration courts and if this were made obligatory for members of a league of nations, It would undoubtedly undoubt-edly be an important step toward the attainment at-tainment of the general aim. "More precise prescriptions, especially regarding requisite guarantees for the recognition of verdicts made by arbitration, arbitra-tion, need careful and thorough consldsra-tlon. consldsra-tlon. Warrts Seas Free. "I liave expressed myself before this on the question of freedom of the seas, which forms a necessary prerequisite for the unrestricted intercourse of states and peoples. Mere, however, the greatest difficulties, dif-ficulties, naturally, are not rai3ed on our side. On a former occasion I pointed out that there must be unhindered access for all nations to the inland seas, no predomination pre-domination of Great Britain at Gibraltar and Malta and in the Suez canal an English newspaper has called this impudence. impu-dence. ''Finally, there is a protection of small nations. Here we can forthwith and without with-out reserve state that in this matter we have an entirely clear conscience. May, therefore, a league of nations be no mere dream of the future, may the idea deepen and may the people in all countries zealously zeal-ously concern themselves with the means for Its establishment. The first and most important prerequisite will be an energetic will to" champion peace and justice. "Mere I will close my remarks. The foreign secretary will deal with the political politi-cal situation in more detail and discuss especially in that connection the well known Austrian note and the reception it has met with up to this time on the part of the enemy. "Those in power in the so-called democratic demo-cratic states have with precipitance and without consulting- their peoples exhibited a curt attitude of rejection. By so doing-thev doing-thev once aain show where the passion for "conquest, where imperialism and militarism mili-tarism are in reality to be "sought." |