The New York Times/1918/11/11/Harden Predicted Truce by Yesterday
HARDEN PREDICTED TRUCE BY YESTERDAY
Versailles Terms Hard, He Said, but Germany Must Not Forget Her Record in 1871.
By GEORGE RENWICK.
Copyright, 1918, by The New York Times Company.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
AMSTERDAM, Nov. 8.—"I believe by Sunday the guns will be at rest," said Maximilian Harden in a lecture on Wednesday in Berlin. Minute-long applause followed the statement. Reason had triumphed, he went on, and though the conditions formulated at Versailles would be hard, Germany must not forget that forty-seven years ago the Germans at the same place set forth iron-hard terms.
Dealing with the problem, who was to blame for the sorry position wherein Germany now found herself, Harden said that civilians might be acquitted of guilt for what was done in August, 1914. It was the military régime which was to blame for the war.
In August last, he went on, Ludendorff, for the first time, recognized the impossibility of victory, and advised von Hintze to make peace. Though Harden termed Ludendorff the "German Bonaparte," and said he accomplished great things, "it cannot be hidden," he added, "that he was completely deceived regarding the economic and technical strength of the Entente. But things would not have happened as they have, had not Hindenburg and Ludendorff for four years kept the German people in a maze of falsehood and deception as to the actual situation. The policy of the military leaders has suffered the most complete shipwreck."
Harden supported the demand for the abdication of the Kaiser, and warned the Government that it was necessary to protect the country against Bolshevism.