A CONFESSION OF GUILT BY GERMANY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:9 Sia,—I suppose there never was a time when lofty moral con- siderations were so much talked about, and openly avowed as the guiding star of the policy,Rf great nations, as at this moment—the mightiest " parting of the ways," perhaps, the world has ever seen. Why should not that vast moral outlook be stamped for ever on this moment of time by putting in the forefront of our Peace terms the solemn and unequivocal acknowledgment by Germany of her guilt? Not one syllable of confession or repentance as a nation has ever escaped her, and now she will shovel the earth over the scarcely cold corpse of her surrender and humiliation as soon as may be, and face the world again with the old brazen lie upon her lips. This ought not to be. President Wilson is openly " out " for moral values. Is this new departure in the life of nations to be inaugurated in a comfortable " act of oblivion " of the sin of Germany, as distinct from the damage she has done? Surely the first duty of those who have wielded the sword of the Lord, before even reparation and restitution are talked of, is to require the bowed head and the sackcloth and ashes of the penitent, openly before the eyes of the world she has outraged. No other test of change of heart has ever been devised, or ever will be.—I
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