Herr Michaelis made his first speech as the German Chancellor
in the Reichstag on Thursday week. He-said-that the submarine • was accomplishing "whet was expected- of .it," -and. he. gave a dramatic turn to his report on the military situation by giving his audience the -first news of the German offensive in Galicia. They could, he said, look on America's intervention "without serious concern," as she had not ships enough to transport and maintain a great army in Europe. The "burning question" was, however, how much longer the war was going to last. Herr Michaelis, after repeating the official German fable of a war forced on a peace- loving Germany, said that he aimed at a peace with victory, ensuring that "the frontiers of the Empire were teed° secure for all time." He would not prolong the war "merely to make conquests by violence," but he carefully refrained from disavowing the desire to make annexations. Peace must, he said, prevent Germany's many foes from forming an economic alliance against 'her. He admitted that Germany was suffering from our blockade, but cheered the Reichstag by saying that Britain was in greater danger of starvation.
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