File No. 763.72119/197
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 14, 8.50 a. m.]
4723. The Chancellor addressed the Reichstag to-day as follows:
Gentlemen: The hope for new favorable events in the field at an early date was the reason why the Reichstag was not adjourned for a considerable period, but it was left to your President to fix a day for the next session. This hope has been fulfilled with a rapidity almost beyond expectation. I shall be brief.
Roumania’s entrance into the war was to roll up our position and that of our allies in the east at the same time the great offensive on the Somme was to break through our western front, and that and new Italian attacks were to [Page 88] paralyze Austria-Hungary. The situation was serious. With God’s help our glorious troops have created a situation which affords us full security greater than ever before. The western front stands. It not only stands but in spite of the Roumanian campaign it is better equipped with reserves of men and material than ever before. Very emphatic care has been taken of all Italian efforts, and while the cannons are thundering on the Somme and the Karst and the Russians are storming against our east front in Transylvania, Field Marshal Hindenburg has broken through the front of our enemies and captured the enemy’s capital in a command unequaled for genius and with troops which have accomplished the impossible in battles and marches in rivalry with their allies. And Hindenburg never rests. The military operations go on simultaneously. With the blows of the sword our economic system has been placed on a firmer foundation; great supplies of food, grain, oil, etc., have fallen into our hands in Roumania. In spite of all the shortage, we would have gotten along with our own means, but now our economic security is beyond all question. And with the deeds on land are aligned in equal station the heroic deeds of our submarines. The specter of hunger which our enemies wanted to invoke against us they themselves cannot get rid of. When His Majesty the Emperor addressed himself to the German people after the expiration of the first year of the war in an official proclamation, he spoke the words, “The greatness of experience compels reverence and firmness of heart.” Never have our Emperor and people been of a different mind. The genius of the command and the accomplishments of our troops of unheard-of heroism have created unalterable facts. The weariness of the war in the interior was also a false conclusion of our enemies. In the midst of the surging of the battles outside, the Reichstag has helped to create a new army of defense in the law relative to the patriot auxiliary service. Behind the fighting army stand the working people; the gigantic forces of the whole nation are made effective towards the one common object. Our enemies do not find an invested fortress as they imagine, but a tremendous and firmly organized military camp with inexhaustible resources; that is the German Empire which remains faithfully and firmly allied with its battle-proven brothers in arms under Austrian, Turkish, and Bulgarian colors, undisturbed by the speeches of our enemies who impute to us in one moment plans of world conquest and in the next moment desperate, agonized cries for peace. We shall continue to march on the course hitherto followed, ever ready to defend ourselves and to fight for the existence of our people, for its firm and secure future, but also ready to proffer our hand for peace at this price, for our strength does not make us blind to our responsibilities before God, our own people, and humanity. The declaration of our readiness for peace has repeatedly been disregarded by our enemies. Now we have taken a step farther.
According to the Constitution, His Majesty the Emperor, was burdened on August 1, 1914, personally with a decision of such gravity as no German was ever before called upon to make, the order of mobilization which was wrested from us by the Russian mobilization. During the long and the severe years of war His Majesty has been imbued solely with the thought how peace could again be prepared for Germany, firmly secured after victorious battle. None can better testify to this than I who bear the responsibility for all acts of government. His Majesty the Emperor is of the conviction that the suitable time has now come for an official peace action with the full concurrence of the rulers allied with him and jointly with them. His Majesty the Emperor has made the resolve to propose to our enemies to enter into peace negotiations.
This morning I handed to the representatives of those powers who have charge of our rights in the enemy countries—the representatives of Spain, the United States of America, and Switzerland—a note addressed to our enemies in this sense with the request for its transmission. The same thing is being done to-day in Vienna, Constantinople, and Sofia. The other neutrals and His Holiness, the Pope, are being informed of our steps. I will read the note to you.
In August 1914, our adversaries unrolled the question of might of the World War. Now we are putting the humanity question of peace. We shall await the reply with the calmness which our internal and external strength and our clear conscience lend us. If the enemies decline, if they want to assume the world’s heavy burden of the terrible things which will then come, then every German heart, even in the smallest cottage, will again flare up in sacred wrath against enemies who, for the sake of intentions of destruction and conquest, are still unwilling to call a halt to the slaughter of human beings.
[Page 89]In a fatal hour we have made a fateful resolve. It is saturated with the blood of hundreds of thousands of our sons and brothers who have given up their lives for their country in this struggle of nations which has disclosed all the horrors of earthly life, but, at the same time, all the greatness of human courage and human will in a manner never seen before. The wits and the hands of human beings cannot endure to the last. God will judge. Fearlessly and upright we shall continue on our way, resolved for battle, ready for peace.