TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE TERMS OF PEACE.
\TOTHING could be more satisfactory than the declaration _LI made by the Prime Minister in such unmistakable terms on Monday. The Allies are to meet at once in Confer- ence for the settlement and statement of their War Aims. This clearly means the statement of the terms upon which they will agree to Peace. The setting forth of these terms will not only be useful per se. Those who make their objects clear not only intensify their own will-power, but weaken the will of opponents who are, in truth, already beaten, and merely trying to get the beat terms they can. Terms in being—i.e., terms which are defined and hold the field— accrete strength to themselves. But apart from this, the statement of our terms ought to dissipate certain dangerous public delusions and assumptions for which, though they are co widespread, there is in reality no authority. The first of these is that part of the process of making peace will be the opening of a huge " talking-shop " or Congress, after the model of the Congress at Vienna. To change the illustration, people seem to think that we are going to declare the troubled waters of Europe free to the fishing of all rulers and States, from the Kaiser and the Emperor of Austria, the King of Bulgaria and the Sultan of Turkey, or rather Enver Pasha, to the Neutrals, near and remote, including the Vatican, and apparently, in the view of sonic people, Mr. De Valera and the Sinn Feiners ! Here we may remark that no authoritative person has ever declared on the part of the Allies that such a Conference is to take place. To begin with, it may be pointed out that the Congress of Vienna did not make terms of Peace. These were dictated to France by the Allies after Napoleon had laid down his arms and abandoned the struggle in the field. Further, the Congress of Vienna very nearly proved the source of a new war. It became a focus of intrigue, in which Talleyrand, as representing France, was soon the master-spirit. Surely we shall not be so mad as to allow the Germans, who have, as we have seen, a positive genius for intrigue and for making ill-blood, to do their best to sow dissension amongst the Allies, or to invoke this or that Neutral Power to assert itself, or to engineer deputations, say, of Germano-Russian patriots, discovered by the analytical processes of Boloiam, to support pleas for this or that conces- sion to Prussian Kultur. The only Conference that we can tolerate, or, rather, that can be tolerated in the true interests of mankind, is a Conference such as that described by Mr. Lloyd George in his admirable speech of Monday. That Conference, he made it clear, will lay down the terms on which alone we can grant Peace and sheathe the sword which we have drawn in the cause of civilization. And now we must say that because the terms are to be "granted " by the Allies, and not made the subject of negotiations with our enemies, this does not mean that the terms are to be cruel, brutal, or inhuman. On the contrary, they must be governed by the widest and most far-seeing considerations. They are not to be victors' terms, or, as we should prefer to put it, vac victia (" woe to the conquered ") terms, but terms as generous as they can be within the bounds of justice and security.
The Conference will, in our opinion, have very little diffi- culty in settling the general outlines of the terms on which the Allies will stop fighting the Germans and their allies. These terms are indeed already before the world. The enemy must, in the first place, make reparation and restitution to those they have so foully wronged. Next, they must give ample security that there will be no repetition of the horrors of the past three years. Little need be said to amplify what is meant by reparation and restitution. The call for these is written in letters of blood over Belgium, over some of the fairest provinces of France, over Serbia, over Poland and Western -Russia, over Rumania, over Armenia and other huge tracts of Asia, and over every sea and ocean in the world. No human effort can ever wholly make good the evils done in this vast area, but even to make superficial amends will tax the powers of the enemy so greatly that they are only too likely to cry out that we are exacting terms of vengeance.
Again, when we exact security for the future, this cry that our terms are terms of vengeance is sure to be raised. The last thing that the Allies will desire or will demand will be vengeance or reprisals. The agony of the world has carried us long past any such superficial remedies. In determining the action taken in order to obtain security for the future, it is clear that certain principles must -be adhered to. We must yield to no temptation, however great, to allow our Peace to "have in it the seeds of future wars, which shall store up disaster for the future as assuredly as did the Peace of Frankfort" when it sanctioned tearing from France the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. We must " deter- mine that we shall have no sowing of the dragon's teeth." To sum up, we must resolve " that there shall be no tearing away of unwilling provinces from any State, either out of revenge or on account of supposed military needs. . . . Wo must not manufacture moral explosives by detaching provinces that do not want to be detached. Restoring provinces that are longing for restoration is, of course, altogether another matter."* To be specific, Germany must be forced to give up Alsace and Lorraine, Schleswig and Posen, because the peoples of those unhappy provinces were torn unwillingly from the States to which they rightly belonged and desire restoration. We should not insist upon restoration in the case of Holstein, because the people there desire to remain connected with Prussia. This application to our enemies of the principle of no forcing back of unwilling provinces under the yoke of Germany, but also of no tearing away of provinces from Germany, and thereby manufacturing new Alsace-Lorraines for the future, must be an essential condition of the Peace terms.
We must confess at once that the application of these principles means the destruction of the Austrian Empire. Some people may be sorry for this—though we do not think that such a view will bear examination—on the ground that Austria-Hungary has been on the whole much less culpable than Germany and yet will receive harsher treatment. That is a very sophistical argument. We are not going to crucify a series of unfortunate provinces in order to obey the dictates of a Quixotic chivalry in regard to the tyrants of Vienna and Budapest. The Slav, the Rumanian, the Italian provinces of Austria must be freed absolutely. The notion of being generous to Austria at the expense of her martyrized nation- alities is a piece of Pecksniffian hypocrisy which we dare not contemplate. At the same time we must no doubt be careful to do everything that we can to protect German or Magyar minorities. It will not be for the Allies to throw the West Virginias, or North-East Ulsters, of South-Eastern Europe to the wolves. Boundary-lines will often be difficult to draw, and the claims of expediency will have to be taken into consideration ; but justice can, we feel sure, be accom- plished hi the end. But when this has been done little will remain of the Empire of the Hapsburgs save Tirol, the other German-speaking portions of the Austrian side of the Mon- archy, and that part of the geographical expression " Hungary " in which there is a bond-frie homogeneous Magyar majority.
The principle of No provinces included which can rightfully claim to be excluded," coupled with that of " No provinces torn away which desire to stay," when applied to Turkey must destroy the Empire of the Ottoman Horde as com- pletely as it must destroy the crazy card-castle of the Haps- burgs. And here let us tell the Germans quite plainly that they are not going to be allowed to create difficulties by demanding that, if they have to give up provinces, similar concessions shall be required of the Allies, and thereupon insist, say, that the United States must give up Porto Rico and the Philippines, or abrogate her treaty with Cuba, if Cuba so demands ; that we must hand over North-East Ulster to the tender mercies of the Sinn Feiners ; or that Italy shall be forced to re-establish the temporal power of the Pope. A great deal might be said about such proposals on their merits, but we do not intend to say it. We shall merely remark that the terms which are to be made will be terms in reference to the territories of our enemies, terms upon which we shall be willing to agree that hostilities shall cease. They will not be terms for the general rectification of the frontiers of the world. If the Germans profess to be shocked by such plain speaking, we shall not be perturbed. And next we must say a word in regard to the exclusion of the Papacy. If the Pope, as the Head of a great spiritual force, had at the beginning of the war taken a line consistent with his spiritual claims, and had denounced the violation of Belgium and of Serbia and the general outrages on humanity committed by the Central Powers, if, that is, he had acted not in accordance with policy but with the claims of humanity, a great deal might have been said for using the forces of the Papacy in the settlement. Unfortunately, however, the Pope and his advisers determined otherwise. No effort was made by them to save Belgium or Serbia, or to place their violators under the Ban. Any sug- gestions in favour of such a course were, indeed, met by the
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• The senteuen In (averted Mone are takes from an aMk-le to regard to Um t1e9rirr upon wills% de Gould lay down our arm, published by us OD august 1zal, friends of the Papacy with the plea that the Vatican could not be expected to go against its one friend in Europe-- namely, Austria-Hungary—and that it must be governed by considerations of world-policy. No doubt the temptation was strong, but those who are governed by considerations of policy rather than of righteousness cannot have it both ways. The Vatican gave up its claim to influence the terms of Peace when it refused to stand by Belgium and Serbia.
We have not attempted to apply in detail the principles of restitution, reparation, end security, nor, again, those of not sowing dragon's teeth for the future, end of not leaving old sowings uneradicated. We sincerely hope, however, that the Allies at the coming Conference will he a good deal more explicit then they have been hitherto. They will, we believe, lose nothing but gain a great deal thereby. But we trust that, besides stating the terms of Peace, they will publicly make their position clear as to certain points. The first of these " Whom is the Peace to be made with ? " Let them say what has never yet been said in so many words, but what it is high time to say namely, that the Peace will not be made with the Hohenzollerns, but only with the German people. After Peace is accomplished, the Geiman people may, if they like, replace their necks under the Hohenzollern yoke. That is their affair, not ours. Peace, boomer, can be made only with the German people. Nekt, the Allies, if they are wise, will explain to the world at large how, not vengeence, but the strong force of necessity makes it certain that the longer the Cermiini fight on, the sterner and the more crushing must be (he terms to which they will have to consent. Though the Allies will repudiate the notion of " To the victor the spoils," even they cannot alter the pest. The tele of evil deeds, which is daily increasing, cries aloud for recompense, and recompense it will surely have in some form or another. You cannot sow wickedness and expect good to be the crop. Therefore, in justice and good faith to the Germans, it must be pointed out to them that the principle of the Sibylline books is inexorable, and that the longer the struggle goes on, the worse must be their plight. What renders this the more certain is the feet that every day brings more and more proof of the insensate wickedness with which the Germans are waging the struggle. Accident, or rather that strangely universal law that murder will out—it cries aloud when other crimes only speak—has shown us that the German Govern- ment, like the midnight assassin, love to kill and " leave no (race." But though so ninny hideous crimes have been openly acknowledged by Germany, it is only too likely that others, possibly worse in kind and degree. though shrouded for the moment from our knowledge, will be brought home to the rulers of Germany, to horrify and exasperate mankind. In that fact clone the German people may well find good reason for not prolonging the war. Yet another reason, if they have any prudence left, is to be found in the fact that the democracies with whom they are fighting are gradually hardening their hearts, and that the preachers of generosity, and of forgiveness even for the worst of crimes, are finding their task harder and harder every day. One can best illus- trate this by pointing to the example of America. The rapidity with which America is passing from the mood of "After all, there were faults on both sides," to that of those old Puritans whose motto was that " Agag should be hewn in pieces before the Lord," is growing alarming even to those who, like ourselves, can hardly be called Pacificists and Humanitarians. Whether the German people are too sodden with their miseries to listen to these arguments we do not know; but at any rate it is the duty of the Allies to warn them.
But besides making it clear what type of Peace is to be granted and whom Peace is to be mete with, the Allies should also make it quite clear to the world how Peace is to be made. They must, as we have said above, publicly disabuse the world of the foolish Congress delusion. To do this, of course, is not to close the door to a later consideration of a League of Peace or some general system for the enforcement of arbitration, or, again, as we should prefer, to the giving of absolute force and sanctity to all international treaties, as long as they remain in existence. Such arrangements as these will be the natural and proper seguetae of Peace. Before, however, these things ran be achieved the fighting must cease, and upon terms which will secure that it shall not break out again after a short breathing-space. To make sure of this, Peace must not be the subject of negotiation, or rather of intrigue, but must be graded by the Allies. Let the Allies, then, not only make up their own minds, but publicly state the results of their deter- mination. If they do so, they will have gone far to win the war. Remember that in the last resort the Germans are quite right in believing that the war will be won by the superior will-power exerted by one set of the combatants. But nothing will increase our will-power, and nothing will SO greatly daunt the will-power of our enemies, as a clear state- ment of the terms on which alone the cannon will cease to fire.
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