NEWS OF THE WEEK

HE Treaty of Peace with Germany was signed last Saturday afternoon in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Five years before, to the day, the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered at Serajevo, giving Germany, through her Austrian confederate, a pretext for plunging Europe into war "according to plan." The plan had failed, the German armies had been shattered, the criminal Emperor who dreamed of ruling the world had abdicated and slunk into exile. From beaten and discredited Germany there now came to Versailles two obscure Socialists, a Herr Muller and a Dr. Bell, to sign the Treaty which expressed the completeness of the Allied victory. Louis XIV.'s famous hall was packed with an assemblage more truly international than Vienna ever saw in 1815, inasmuch as America, Asia, and Africa, as well as Europe, had sent their Delegates. The one man who was not represented there, by some strange oversight, was the British private, whose incomparable courage in hard times had done so much to make that great Peace Conference possible. American " doughboys" and French" poilus " had been invited. The British " Tommy " was overlooked.

The proceedings were brief and formal. The Delegates of twenty-six Allied States and the representatives of the Dominions :Ind India, with the German Delegates, signed the vellum copy of the Peace, after M. Clemenceau had curtly reminded all present that the signatures constituted "an irrevocable undertaking to carry out loyally and faithfully and in their entirety all the terms of the Treaty." At the last moment the Chinese Delegates refused to sign, because the Treaty transfers Shantung from Germany to Japan, and does not include the recent Japanese pledge to restore the province to China. By four o'clock the guns in the Orangery began to fire their salutes in honour of Peace, and Paris gave herself up to rejoicing.

London received the news quietly. But dense crowds instinctively gathered round Buckingham Palace, as they had done on the eve of war, and cheered the King and Queen and the Royal family, who came out on the balcony to greet them. The Prime Minister returned from Paris last Sunday evening. The King, who always does the right thing, met Mr. Lloyd George at Victoria Station and took him to the Palace, where an enthusiastic multitude awaited them. The Prime Minister had another hearty reception when he left the Palace with Mrs. Lloyd George —whom, if we may say so, London has come to regard with steadily increasing admiration and respect.. At Downing Street Mr. Lloyd George was constrained to address the crowd from his windows. The "Peace charged with hope" had, he said, been won by unity. He hoped that the spirit of concord would continue to prevail. On Monday the Prime Minister made his reappearance in the House of Commons. The members, with a few unmannerly exceptions, rose to welcome him and sang the National Anthem in honour of the Peace.

The full text of the Peace Treaty was published by the Times last Saturday. We admire the enterprise of the Times. The Stationery Office did not contrive to publish the official edition, with some excellent large-scale maps, until Tuesday night. The text confirms the accuracy of the authorized summary published last month. The detailed provisions, however, show more clearly than the summary the anxious care with which the Allies have tried to deal justly by the inhabitants of ceded or disputed districts. In the Saar Valley, for example, it is provided that the German inhabitants shall retain their rights under the German insurance laws, as well as their local Assemblies, their religious liberties, their schools, and their language. For fifteen years they will be ruled by an international Commission of Five, including only one Frenchman, and they will then decide their own future by a plebiscite. The arrangements for ascertaining the wishes of the people in the Polish and East Prussian border districts and in Slosvig and Malmedy have been well thoug,ht out. These people, in the presence of Allied troops and officials, will be free to enjoy " seff-determination " in the fullest sense. The Germans employed very different methods, ranging from fraud to vio:ence.

Germany's renunciation of all rights, titles, and privileges outside her new frontiers is remarkably complete. She agrees beforehand to any Treaty that we may make with Turkey or Bulgaria. The Baghdad Railway and all the other German undertakings in the Near East thus pass to the Allies ; private German shareholders will be indemnified by their Government, as a set-off against the bill for reparation. Germany recognizes our Protectorate in Egypt and the French Protectorate in Morocco. A special clause is aimed at the hold which the German banks had acquired in Italy, Austria, Russia, and the Near East. The military-and naval clauses have been worded rigorously so as to prevent, if possible, any repetition of the deceit practised by Prussia on Napoleon. The number of officers or men discharged before their term of service expires must not exceed in any one year five per cent. of the total effectives, which will be limited to one hundred thousand after March next. Germany has to surrender eight battleships, eight light cruisers, and forty-two modern destroyers within the next two months, as well as any warships interned in neutral ports. The chapter on reparation is very long and precise, as it needed to be. When we think of the ruin that Germany has caused of malice aforethought, we cannot spare our pity for her. Belgium, France, Serbia, Rumania, Poland, need it all.

The Treaty comes into force as soon as Germany and three of the principal Allies have ratified it and deposited the necessary papers at Paris. The date at which this is done will mark the actual conclusion of Peace, and the periods named for the accomplishment of various acts will begin to run from that day. The German prisoners will be released as soon as possible after that date, and sent home at the expense of Germany. We need not fear, then, that the German Government and Parliament will raise difficulties about rat4ing.

M. Clexnenceau made a noble speech in submitting the Peace Treaty to the Chamber on Monday. He reminded his hearers how the Third Republic, which Bismarck tolerated for its supposed weakness, had justified itself in the war. "Tears, tortures, and the blood of our wounds have left us better, higher, greater, and more completely French." The war had been won by a united national effort. Frenchmen had not saved France "in order to tear her to pieces with their own parricidal hands." He reminded the Socialists and the Trade Unions that they were only a part of the nation. The voice of the majority must prevail.

As we write on Thursday it is announced that Parliament will be asked to give statutory sanction not only to the Peace • Treaty but also to a Franco-British Treaty guaranteeing France against unprovoked aggression by Germany. Doubtless this is part of the Agreement between France, Great Britain, and America which was foreshadowed some time ago, as a solid basis for the League of Nations. All we would say now is that, if we give France a guarantee, it should be absolute, and not conditional on the action or inaction of a third party. The Treaty guaranteeing Luxemburg's neutrality was admittedly worthless, because, if one of the guarantors failed in his duty, the others were released from their obligation. An undertaking of that kind does more harm than good.

The Allies have drawn up a Treaty with Poland, under Clause 93 of the Peace, for the protection of racial or religious minorities, especially the Jews and Germans. The Allies remind Poland that she owes the recovery of her independence to them, and they ask her to grant "complete protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants of Poland without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race, or religion," together with religious toleration. Considerable minorities of non-Polish speech are to have their children taught in their own language. The Jews are to naaimge their own schools, with reasonable assistance from State funds. The teaching of Polish may, however, be made compulsory in all non-Polish schools. Jews are not to be compelled to violate their Sabbath. The League of Nations is to guarantee these "obligations of international concern." We gather from the summary of this important Treaty that the Jewish demand for something very like local autonomy—a State within a State—has not been granted. -a was indeed unreasonable and impracticable. But the Allies may fairly require Poland, and the other new States, to do to their minorities as they would be done by. The spectacle of a newly liberated people oppressing others is painful in the extreme.

General Denikin continues his triumphal progress in Southern Russia, where the Bolsheviks appear to be demoralized. On Friday week he occupied Kharkoff, the largest town in Southern Russia, except Odessa. He has placed himself under the orders of Admiral Koltohak, who now definitely represents all the patriotic parties in Russia, and whose Envoys in Paris are now recognized by the Allied Council. The Admiral's armies in Eastern Russia seem to be still retreating, if the Bolshevik report of the capture of Penn be true. The retreat is not necessarily disastrous in a military sense, but it means that thousands of unhappy civilians are left to be slaughtered by Lenin's Chinese mercenaries, while the women are " nationalized "—a euphemism for enforced prostitution. We confess that we are unable to understand how any respectable British people, whatever their political views may be, can admire the Bolsheviks, who, as judged by their actions, are criminals of a peculiarly nauseous type.

We have dealt elsewhere at length with what Colonel House would have learnt had he visited Ireland on a political and social voyage of discovery. Here we may say something of the personality of the President's best friend. Colonel House is discretion, good sense, and reticence personified. What is better, he is the last man who wants to make mischief or to upset people or things. He does not suffer from wounded amour propre if he cannot get his own way, nor will he allow himself to stray from the very narrow path between two precipices which he often has to tread when he is called on to advise the American Chief of State on great affairs. That Colonel House is a true friend of this country, one who has done her good service in the past and who will do her good service in therfuture--subject always to there being no prior call by his own country—is for us not a matter of conjecture but of conviction and knowledge.

No one has a wider experience than Colonel House in "turning down," as his countrymen would say, dangerous, disingenuous, or troublesome persons, or in preventing a situation from becoming aggravated by the kind of auto-toxin which political situations are liable to generate. Had Colonel House visited Ireland, we may safely assume that he would have preserved an open mind. He would have been anxious to learn the truth and the whole truth, and would never have been "awed by rumour," or affected by personal considerations. He would not have been afraid of hearing disagreeable things or knowing too much. Finally, he would have observed an exact economy not only of rhetoric but of speech. How often have the gentlemen of our own profession had call to say or sing :— " The Pressman may be cabling from Dublin to Whitehall, But the Colonel, -oh the Colonel don't say anything at all."

Mr. Bonar Law has led the House with much tact and skill of late, but he has not yet conquered his propensity to speak before he thinks. On Monday, in a hasty reply to a question, he said that no one had yet been appointed to the vacant Embassy at Washington. Several suggestions had been made without result. "If the honourable Member has any one suitable, the Prime Minister would be glad to hear of him." A more unfortunate remark could not have been made. The Embassy at Washington is in many respects the most important post in our Diplomatic Service, and a very great deal depends upon the character and ability of its occupant. It was surely most unwise to create the impression that none of our trained diplomatists is equal to the task, and that the Prime Minister would welcome the help of any irresponsible person in finding a possible Ambassador. Mr. Boner Law was only jesting, and his remark amused the House. But jokes of this kind lose their flavour when they are cabled without the explanatory "(Laughter)."

The House Of Lords on Monday agreed to take part in a Joint Committee on the Government of India Bill. Lord Curzon admitted that he viewed the prospect with concern. He said that the high standard of the Civil Service and the authority of the Central Government must be maintained. He emphasized the fact—obscured by Mr. Montagu and his allies— that "electoral franchise and votes are nothing to the great mass of the Indian people," who want justice and freedom from the oppression too often exercised by the higher castes. Lord Salisbury made a statesmanlike speech in reply. The India Office had, he said with reason, treated Parliament with contempt, in announcing a new policy, bringing forward an elaborate new scheme of reform, and keeping back till the last moment the adverse reports of the Provincial Governors, who really know something about India. The government seemed to have no foresight and drifted into measures like this. Lord Salisbury urged that India, in building a Constitution, ought to adopt the principle of gradual growth which had made the British Constitution a success. He emphasized the need for simplicity, which Mr. Montagu's Report ignores, and for caution. Some changes there must be, but we cannot try rash experiments in India.

Mr. Churchill on Tuesday told the House of Commons that he could not allow Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien to reply to Lord French's recent attack upon his conduct at Le Cateau, because it would be a breach of the rule forbidding "serving soldiers" to rush into print. Lord French as Field-Marshal, Lord-Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland is, it seems, not a "serving soldier," but General Smith-Dorrien as Governor of Gibraltar is a "serving soldier." On this technical plea General Smith-Dorrien is forbidden to defend himself against the gravest charge that could be levelled at a commander—namely, of wantonly sacrificing life in a futile action and imperilling the safety of the whole Army. We feel sure that no one regrets thia more than Lord French. It must be most painful to him to find that the War Office has allowed him to attack an old comrade whose hands are tied. No British soldier would assault an enemy who was in such a plight. Lord French may fairly ask the War Office to rescue him from such a false position by letting the other side of the story be told.

The Labour Party Conference at Southport on Friday week let itself be carried away by the wild men who, though always beaten at the polls, have gained control of the Executives of the three large Unions of miners, railwaymen, and transport workers. The Conference demanded the immediate cessation of operations against the Bolsheviks, and the abolition of the Censorship—which, we thought, was dead. It instructed the Executive to consult the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress "with a view to effective action being taken to enforce these demands by the unreserved use of their political and industrial power." A resolution to this effect was carried, nominally, by 1,893,000 votes to 935,000 votes, despite the vigorous opposition of Mr. Clynes and Mr. Tillett. The electors, most of whom are working men and women last December declined to give the wild Socialists any political power. The small Socialist minority now threaten a general strike to oppress the hostile majority of their fellow-citizens. This, of course, would be the very negation of democracy, and we are perfectly sure that the British people would not endure etch ofpression. Lenin may practise minority rule in Great Russia, but his would-be British imitators have not the faintest thance of success. All that they will do is to split the Labour Party. The Sailors' and Firemen's Union, which forms a part of the "Triple Alliance," has repudiated in advance the proposal to use the "Alliance" for political purposes.

The alarm created by Mr.Justice Sankey's Report in favour of nationalizing the coal-mines caused an immediate reaction In the House of Commons against the Transportation Bill. After a -strong deputation had conferred with Mr. Bonar Law and with Mr. Lloyd George on Monday, it was announced next day that Sir Eric Geddes would no longer seek to dispossess the Port of London Authority, the Clyde Trust, the Mersey Dock Board, and other local bodies of business men to whose unpaid service the efficiency of our chief docks and harbours is mainly due. Further, Sir Eric Geddes was given a Roads Advisory Committee, of highway authorities and road-users, to remind him that railways are not the sole or even the chief means of transport.

On Thursday Mr. Joynson-Hicks and other Coalition members tried to obtain from the Government a definite pledge that, in maintaining full control of the railways for two years, they would not prejudge the question of nationalization. Lord Robert Cecil urged them to let the country decide the question fairly. Sir Eric Geddes in reply said that he had an open mind

In regard to railway nationalization, and that the Government had not come to any decision. After two years the new Ministry of Transport would have to seek fresh powers from Parliament. Mr. Joynson-Hicks told the Government frankly that most of bre—Coalition Unionists would desert them if they proposed nationalization. The fact is that sober men resent very keenly the claim of the miners and the railwaymen—or, rather, of their unwise leaders—to be the dominant power in the State.

The so-called Enabling Bill was read a second time in the House of Lords on Tuesday by 130 votes to 33. The Lord Chancellor said that the Government were divided in opinion, and could not either support or oppose the Bill. He suggested that the HOU136 of Commons was no longer overworked, and therefore unable to attend to Church reforms; at present, he said, the Standing Committee were in some danger tof being unemployed. He thought that the Archbishops would have done well to obtain the unanimous support of Churchmen for their proposals before approaching Parliament. It certainly cannot be said that Churchmen are agreed about the Enabling Bill.

The great British airship R 34' left her shed beside the Firth of Forth early on Wednesday morning for a voyage to New York, in order to salute America, on Independence Day. As we write the airship seems to be flying across the Atlantic "according to plan." Her sister-ship 'R 33' flew over London on Wednesday. We are told of the vast dimensions of these animated gasbags, but 'R 33,' seen at a moderate height, impressed us with her elegance rather than with her size.

Lord Rayleigh, who died on Monday at the age of seventysix, will be remembered among the great men of science whom Great Britain has given to the world. He was Senior Wrangler in 1865, he succeeded Clerk Maxwell as Professor of Physics at Cambridge, and in later life he was elected President of the Royal Society and Chancellor of his old University. He was one of the few eminent men who were the-first to receive the Order of Merit in 1902. Lord Rayleigh's life-long researches in physics were of the highest value, though his fellow-workers alone understood their full importance. Public attention was, however, attracted by his discovery in 1894 of the new element which he called argon, opening fresh vistas of chemical speculation. Lord Rayleigh, unlike some men of science, was well versed in practical affairs. He was noted in the agricultural world as a successful farmer and a good employer.

the restoration of the famous equestrian statue of Charles I. at the top of Whitehall. We have all heard how Lesueur's statue was saved from destruction in the Commonwealth by a loyal Holborn brazier, John Revett, who bought it and hid it until Charles If. came to his own again. But Sir Lionel Earle tells us that the statue would have collapsed and been destroyed any day if his Department had not decided to examine it when its sandbag defences against air raids were being removed. The figure was sound enough, but the bronze horse, it seems, was badly cast in 1633. There were serious cracks in the near fore-leg which might have caused horse and rider to come crashing to the ground. The tail was fractured and might have dropped on a passer-by. The damage has now been made good by Mr. Burton, the London metal-founder, and Charles I., fresh and clean, will continue, let us hope, to gaze pensively down Whitehall for generations to come.

We have the greatest pleasure in making known to our readers the inauguration of a very generous fellowship scheme at Harvard. An American correspondent has sent us a statement, published on behalf of the Harvard Club of New York City, which contains the details of a Memorial Fellowshir founded in honour of the late Mr. Joseph H. Choate. It has been decided by the members of the Club, who are the subscribers, to hand over to the President and Fellows of Harvard a principal -sum of forty thousand dollars, or more if possible, the yearly income from which shall be enjoyed by a British subject coming from Cambridge University to study at Harvard. John Harvard, the founder of HarvardCollege, graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1631. We are confident that no scheme could possibly have been contrived to do greater honour to the memory of Mr. Choate. He was a tremendous believer in .Anglo-American friendship ; he also stood for the best that was being thought and said in the British and American worlds.

The scheme of the Harvard Club is better than generous because it is practical and wise. if the understanding between Great Britain and America is to prosper, as it must if the world is to be at peace, it could not be aided better than by ensuring that the great Universities should lead the way. The Choate Memorial Fellowship, we hope, will become a model of its kind. But it must not be supposed that, though this particular Fellowship is a direct result of the war, Harvard has hitherto shut out men of British birth from all her Fellowships and Scholarships. Some of these have long been open to graduates of English and Scottish Universities who cared to compete for them.

The Victory Loan has, we fear, been somewhat overshadowed by the welcome news of Peace which has filled the newspapers this week. It remains none the less the most important and urgent question of the day. Unless every citizen does his utmost to make the Loan a great success, the Peace which we have achieved by immense efforts will rest on an insecure foundation. For our first task is to re-establish our finances, and the initial step is to consolidate our huge and uncertain obligations—in Treasury Bills, Ways and Means advances, and the like—in one permanent Debt. We shall then know where we stand. The annual burden of interest will be fixed, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have to devise regular methods of meeting it. The uncertainty which has paralysed business will then be removed, and trade and enterprise, which ultimately depend on the state of the money market, will rapidly revive.

Every one therefore stands to benefit directly and indirectly by the success of the Victory Loan. It is, of course, an excellent investment for any man or woman who has savings, however small. The Loan is absolutely secure, the terms are generous, and the investor may subscribe at any bank or post office. That is the personal side of the matter. But when the patriotic millions have subscribed to the Loan, as we hope and believe they will, the result of their united effort will be to make trade active. When our industries are in full work once, again and our exports resume their normal proportions, prices will tend to fall. The effect of the recent improvements in the wages and conditions of labour will then be realized for the first time. The working man, indeed, stands to gain far more than the rich man if the Loan, as we expect, proves to be the most successful ever raised in this country.