OCR Text |
Show I Revelations By Gerard I Spur Bethmann-Hollweg I In Hurl Forth Denials H nerlln, Aug. 30 (via London, Aug. H 31). Dr. von Bethmann Holhveg, H tho former Imperial chancellor, to- H day assorted that James W. Gorard, H former nrmassador to Germany, In I writing his revelations of Germany's H war alms, gavo a somewhat freo rein H to his Imagination. Tho statement H of tho former chancellor was tho ro- H suit of his reading In a London news- H paper Mr. Gerard's version of a con- I versation with hlui last January, in which It was allegod that Germany's I peaco terms wcro set forth. I "In his published report of his par- I tlcular conversation," Dr. von Bcth- I raann-IIollweg said to tho Associated I Press today, "Mr. Gerard attributed I utterances to mo which may have I been mado In other quarters In Ger- I many, but which wero not my own. I This applies especially to his refcr- I onco to Germany's alleged Intention's I to sclzo Llego and Nnmur, and of I Germany's plans to tako possession I of tho Belgian ports and railways and , H . to establish military nnd commercl- Jrf "e&7 al dominion of that country. Slakes Flat Denial. "I never unfolded such German war alms to Mr. Gorard. In tho " courso of my several conversations with him, as also In our discussion last January, I invariably referred (to my rclchstag speeches, In which I stated that Germany would exact posltlvo guarantees that Bolglan ter-' ter-' rltory and policies would not In tho I future bo exploited as a menacing factor against U3. I did not make any statement a3 to tho naturo of tbeso guarantees. "In tho progress of our conversation, conversa-tion, Mr. Geiard suggested that tho realization of far-reaching aspirations In Belgium would glvo King Albert merely a chain authority and asked whether It would not bo better for Germany to forego such jplans and Instead of thorn endeavor to ncqulro Llego, which Mr. Gerard thought pos-siblo pos-siblo of achievement. "Perhaps tlili suggestion was a halt, Intended to provoko a roply from mo. If so, tho attempt failed. In all my discussions with tho ambassa-1 ambassa-1 dor on this subject, I roferred to my public utterances In which I emphasized empha-sized that I was endeavoring to pro-i pro-i euro a peaco that would permit ua to live In cordial and neighborly relations re-lations with Belgium. Concerning Iltissln. "Mr. Gerard's momory would seem to havo served him faultily when ho wroto down what was said about Russia. Rus-sia. Ho dealt but superficially with Germany's eastern war alms, observing observ-ing that tho United States' Interest In this direction was very limited and that Germany undoubtedly would havo a freo hand three. For Rumania Ru-mania and Serbia, ho also revealed very slight sympathy. Mr. Gerard did not obtain out of my mouth any of tho statements concerning theso countries which ho attributes to mo.'' Tho former chancellor then observed: ob-served: "When diplomats undcrtako to exploit ex-ploit their official career for Journalistic Journal-istic purposes, they are very apt to bo misled Into putting Into tho mouths of foreign statesmen utterances utter-ances which elthor aro tho creation of an amplo Imagination or aro based on faulty momory. Discussion of political po-litical opinions Is bound to bo transitory transi-tory and fleeting." Tho former chancellor then touched upon what ho regarded as tho thlcs of Mr. Gerard's disclosures as compared with tho European Idea. Shlrt-sleovo Diplomacy. "You Americans aro an Impetuous people," ho said. "You do not scorn ' to permit oven your retiring dlplo-1 mats to observo tho traditional sil- once, nor havo you tho patlonco to abldo tho post-mortem publication ' of their memoirs. Sir Edward Bos-j chen (former British ambassador to' Germany and Austria) or Jules Cam-' bon (formor French ambassador to Germany, tho United States and Spain) probably could oxcol Mr. Gerard Ger-ard In revelations of entertaining diplomatic di-plomatic history nnd gossip. Count' von Bernstorff (former German ambassador am-bassador to tho United Statca), too, I Imagine might startlo ua with tho diary of hl3 Washington experiences. "In Europo, howover, It would seem that publication of r.uch mat-tors, mat-tors, by common consont, Is postponed post-poned to later periods, when judgments judg-ments aro both calmer and moro mature Mr. Gorard, however, may hold tho special llconso conferred by 'shlrt-sleovo' diplomacy, as you call It, and I shall not dlsputo his pro-TORatlvos. pro-TORatlvos. But ho must not glvtf" hli j imagination too froo rein." Away from tho turbulent political arena the former chancellor Is now enjoying harvest tlmo on hli estate , at Hohentlno, provtneo of Bandcn-burg, Bandcn-burg, two hours by rail from Berlin. During his conversation with tho correspondent cor-respondent he begged off from talking talk-ing politics, but assured tho correspondent corres-pondent that tho potato crop nt Ho-honfino Ho-honfino was most excellent. |