The press MONDAY, JULY 15, 1918. No Prospects of Peace.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16264, 15 July 1918, Page 6

The press MONDAY, JULY 15, 1918. No Prospects of Peace.

The German Chancellor has declared that while the German Government are ready to receive peace proposals if these are put forward in a sincere spirit, the recent utterances of Mr Wilson and Mr Balfour force Germany to continue tie struggle. This is the German reply to the speech of Mr Wilson on Independence Day, which Mr Lloyd George endorsed as a statement of aims which, if accepted by Germany, would bring peace forthwith. In particular the Chancellor insists upon the BrestLitovsk treaty, which, of course, is implicitly condemned by Mr Wilson. If the German settlement of Russia has been a fixed condition in the various peace suggestions and overtures by Germany, and apparently it has been, there disappears the last inch of ground available to those who have thought and said that the Allies h&ve rejected genuine peace offers, or Gorman invitations to discussion. There is little doubt, now that France has given up her idea of a greater Alsace-Lorraine, that the Germans could offer a satisfactory arrangement in the West, but no arrangement can be satisfactory which leaves Germany with advantages in tho East. A number of people in Britain have urged that the Government have neglected some golden opportunities of making peace, and that they havo actually discouraged surrender by the enemy. These people took an aggrcssivfe lino when the revelations by Mr Robert Dell, the Paris correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian," made it clear that the Austrian offer of peace in 1917 was favourably regarded by Mr Lloyd George, but that a negative reply , was insisted upon by France and Italy, neither Russia nor America having been consulted regarding the offer. Just as the details were coming out Lord Robert Cecil, in a statement to American Press representatives, declared that Germany was preparing "a "peace offensive," and he was sharply taken to task for warning Germany and the world that , all German offers of peace would be rejected beforehand. Lord Robert certainly might have chosen his words better, but they set in motion a current of discussion which resulted in clear statements by the Prime Minister and some of his colleagues. It was in the course of this discussion that Mr Balfour, who did not question Mr Dell's account of the Austrian demarche, declared that a greater Alsace-Lorraine than that of 1870 was not now an Allied war-aim, and that ' in any ovent Britain would not support

such a claim. Lord Curzon, in a debate in the House of Lords on May Bth, agreed with Lord Lansdowne that peace negotiations must not bo ruled out as impossible. "At no time," he said, "had the attitude been taken up "by any one of tho Allied Governments "to turn down peace proposals before " thoy were made. It was an understanding among the Allies that if " overtures were made at any time from " responsible quarters which seemed to " be of a bona fide character the Allies " concerned would be at liberty to investigate them, and if anything came "of it the other Allies should bo taken "into consultation." Mr Balfour, on May 17th, said exactly the same thing in much the same words, mentioning in addition that Britain had never at any time initiated conversations. Mr Lloyd George, the Press discussion of tho subject having been continued, went more fully into tho general question in an address at Edinburgh on May 24th. "There are," lie eaid, "two types of " in ovory war. There is, " first of all, tho peaco extremist. Ho "is always crying out 'Peace' when " tliero is no peace. That type dis- " crodits peace, and that makes peace " difficult when tho time comes for "negotiating peace. Ho is not a real " friend to peace. Ho is an enemy to " peace. Ho is a liindranco to peace. "Ho is an encouragement to the " enemy. He depresses his friends. And " there is the war extremist, who re- " gards every thought of making peace "as if it wore treason to tho Stato. " Tho path of sanity and of safety " which 1 a Government ought to tread " is between those two extremes." The Government had neglected no possible means of finding out whether there was any honourable outlet out of the war. Tho present spoech by tho Chancellor must surely bo accented by everybody as the plainest evidence that negotiations, into which Germany would enter with a determination to maintain her I political gain in the East, could not lead to any satisfactory peace.