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GERMANYS FINAL DEFENSIVE I Indications are not wanting that the Belgians will cat their Christmas dinners a free people not that they have ever been anything else in their hearts Von Falkenhausen the military governor of Bel ¬ gium has indicated the early evacuation of the country the German soldiery there are talking of it among themselves and even to Belgian citizens and all the signs point to the early deliverance of the brave little kingdom from the Hun The re ¬ moval of German headquarters from Spa a few weeks ago was a significant fact and now comes the news that the1 German archives are being re ¬ moved from Brussels preparatory to a general exodus exodusFalkenhausen Falkenhausen is reported to have said that the German army will return to its own frontier in order to show the world we really want to defend Germany H should have said that the object was to impress the German people with that idea The remark is in fact only a variant of the oft repeated lie that Germany is fighting a defensive war Certainly she is on the defensive now arid will remain so to the end but the war was de ¬ liberately made in Germany and its ultimate aim was the dominion of the world When the kaisers forces are all within German territory he may be able to persuade them and the people that it is their duty to go on fighting as he has just said to the last breath in order to defend the father ¬ land they will be made to believe but in reality to defend the Hohenzollern dynasty dynastyUntil Until lauds filched from other peoples are re ¬ stored and until Germany is compelled to make good the wrongs she has inflicted the war will have to go on onGermans Germans must understand that the dreadful wrongs which have been inflicted upon the world have to be redressed as far as that is humanly possible Nor can the element of punishment be eliminated from the Allies terms for there can be no justice that preludes punishment The Germans must be brought to a sense of the enormity of the national crimes to which they have been the willing par ¬ ties crimes upon which they entered with holy joy to quote Maximilian Harden No penalty is too severe for those who have led them But the German people also must suffer with those leaders Punishment of the evildoers must come before there can be peace on oarth and a restoration of good will among men New York Herald Buy Liberty Bonds and keep the Huns going
