ONLY POSSIBLE PEACE BASIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2848, 12 August 1916, Page 7

ONLY POSSIBLE PEACE BASIS

VISCOUNT GREY'S TERMS

FREEDOM OF THE NATIONS

Viscount Grey (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) recsnciy gave an interview to Mr. Ei I'. Hell, ui the Chicago "Daily News"—the first interview, it is stated, that the "Foreign Secretary has ever given to a journalist—regarding the Allies' peace conditions. In the course of his statement Viscount tlrey said:—

"Prussian. tyranny over Western Europe, including these islands, our people .will not stand. The pledges given by Mr. Asrjuith as regards the restoration of Belgium and Serbia shall be kept. We have signed A pact to make pcace only in concert with our Allies; this pact, I need not gay, we shall honour strictly and to the end. What we and our Allies are lighting for is a free Europe. We want a Europe free not only from the domination of one nationality by another, but from hectoring diplomacy.'and the peril of war, free from the constant rattling of the sword in the ncabbard, from perpetual talk of shining armour and war lords. In fact, we are fighting for equal rights; for law, justice, peace; for civilisation throughout the world, as against brute force which knows no restraint and no mercy. We are, not only lighting Prussia's attempt to do to all of Europe what she did to non-Prussian Germany, but fighting the German idea of the wholesomeness, almost the desirability, of ever-recurrent war. Prussia under Bismarck deliberately and admittedly made three wars. We want a settled peace in Europe and throughout the world, which will be a guarantee against aggressive war. Germany's philosophy is flint a settled neace spells disintegration, degeneracy, and sac-, rifice of'the' heroic qualities in human' character. Such a philosophy, if it is to survive as a practical force, means eternal apprehension and unrest. It means . ever-increasing armaments. ■It means arresting t.hc development of mankind, alonsr the lines of culture and huinanity.. We are fighting this idea. We do not believe in war as the preferable method nf settling disputes between nations. When nations cannot see eye to eye, when they quarrel, when there is a threat of .war, wo believe tl:s controversy should be settled by methods other, than those of . war. Such other methods ar» always successful when there is goodwill and no aggressire spirit. .' Tf the conference in. London in the Balkan crisis i'l 1912-13 had been worked to the disadvantage of ' Germany or her allies, the German • reluctance for a conference in 1011., would ■have been intelligible, but no more.cnnvincins pledge of fairplay and singleminded desiro for fair settlement than the conduct of. that conference in London was ever given. And.in 1911, after Serbia had accepted nine-tenths of Austria's demands, the settlement of outstanding questions would.hare been easy. Eussia ordered no general mobilisation till Gcrmauy.liad refused a conference and till German preparations for war were far nieiul oi the Jfussiahs ' Germany declared war oil Russia-when Austria wad showing every disposition to come to terms: and Germany.was, in fact, atwat with Russia four-or five days before AiiS' Iria, though the quarrel at that time was onn that primarily concerned Austria and not Germany. The Two .Method!. "These two methods of settling international disputes, the method of negotiation and the method of war, I ask you," said' \ iicount Grey, "to consider in.> the light of this struggle. Do we not\soo the disaster of • the war method conclusively 6hown? How 'much 'letter would luv.-G been a conference, or The Hague, in 1914, tliaii what has happened since-!-Industry and commerce dislocated, tfio burdens of life heavily increased; millions of men slain, niaimed.blinded; inWnotional hatreds deepened and intensified; the very fabric of - 'civilisation moniutcd—these ..from , the war method. Theconference wo . proposed, or TJiu .Hague proposed by the Emperor. XichoIjf. would have .settled, the qtiarrol in a little time—l think u conference wouTd have settled it in a. week—and all rhese calamities would have .been- averted. Moreover—a thing of vast importance— we should'have gone a long wav in lay. lug the permanent foundations tor international. peace. The injustice done by this war has got to be set rig-lit. The •AlUes~can tolerate no peace that leaves the wrongs of this unredressed. Peace counsels .. that are purely abstract and make ,iio, attempt to discriminate between the rijjiit?'and the wrongs of this war are ineffective if not irrelevant. Belginin. was a bulwark—defensive of Germany, of Prance, and of Europenn peace. This bulwark, until Germany decided to make war, was. in no danger from any quarter. In April, 1913, we had given renewed assurance to Belgium to respect her neutrality. When war threatened we asked France if she lvould adhere to tier pledge to respect the neutrality of Belgium. ' .-She snid Tres.': We asked Germany the Bame-question, and she declined to answer. Immediately afterwards, in.scorn of her signature, she as•fnultSU and destroyed the bulwark. ||.-rr von Dethmann Kollweg ackonwcCdged the ivroiij, pleading that 'necessity knows no law,' and promised that is soon as Germany's military aims wc-i-o realised she-would restore Belgium; Now he says there can Ire nonstatus quo nnte, either in the East, or in the West. In Belgium's independence ia gone, as Serbia's and Montenegro's are gone, unless the 'Allies can set Uieiu «« ■•gaiis.. A Real Freedom. - "To all this we say to 'German?:, 'lvecoguwe the principle urged by lovers oi freedom everywhere; give to the nationalities of Europe a real freedom, not the so-called freedom doled out to subject peoples, by Prussian tyranny, and mako reparation, as far as it can be made, for tip wropg done.' "Nobody wants peace more than wa want it. But we want a peace that does justice, and a .'peace that re-establishes respect for. the public law of the world. Presumably Germany would like neutrals to think wa are applying pressure to keep Prunes, Russia, and Italy in tho war. We are not. France, Pussia, and •Italy need no urging- to beep them in the war. ' Tliey know why tliey ara in'the war. They know tliey are in it to preserve everything . that is precious to nationality. It is this knowledge which makes them determined and unconquer-" able. We should be glad to see the German people free, as we ourselves want to be fret, and as we want the other nationalities of Europe, and of Ike world to be free. Tt belongs to the rudiments of political science, it is abundantly taught by, history, that you eanot er c lav a oeonle and make a success of the jobthat you cannot, kill a people's soul by foreign despotism and brutality. We believe thnt the German people—when opto the dreams of world-onipire. cherished by pp'i-Gernianisni. are broiieM to noughtwill insist upon (lie control of its Gov eminent: and in Ihis lies the hope of secure freedom and national independence in Europe. For n Oei'man de

•"•CCT#<sy will nnt n ] o | niul plan war. s , ni l'nissinn niililnvism plottpd wn're, to lake place at a chosen dais in tli- future.

"Long before tlii- war T lr-ned f"i> a league of nations Ihr.t would be united, quiclc, and instant, to prevent and if need bn to punish violation of international f-caties. of nublic. right, of naiioT.nl indenMidenee, and would "i)v to nations that com" forward with Grievances and claims: "Put. them before •hi impartial Irihunnl. Subject your claims tn the of la ,r or the jud"niept of impartial i"eu. TP you enn win "t (his liar, .v<m will net what von want: if you cannot, you shall not have what vou want: n, 'd. if you Mtemnt 'o slnrt a war, we all shall adjudge you the common e'irmy of liumaiiilv. and Ireat. you ■>ocn>vliing!y. A." fo"to'>ds. safe-lire,iters. '•■iirTla.". and inTitdiapcs are in nations, so those who would commit Ihese crimes, and irer.lcnhiblv more than these criiyies. will be sunorpssed aruouf: untions." Unless mankind learn? from this var to avoid wa v the will have been in vain. The flermans have thrown the door wide onen to e"""v form of attack- uno'i human life. Tl U i use of poisonous fumes, or somelhin" akin to them, in war was recommended to' our naval or uulita'T authorities many years asn. and was rejected bv theni as too horrible for "jvilispd neon'-s The Germans have come with Jonfrng mines in the open seas, threat-

ening belligerents and neutrals equally; they have come with the undiscriiuimitiu|» murderous Zeppelin, which does military damage only by accident; they have coiiie with the submarine, which destroys neutral and belligerent ships and crews in scorn alike of law and ol' mercy; they iiavo come upon blameless nations with invasion and incendiarism and confiscation; they have come with poisonous gases and liquid fire. All their scientific genius has been dedicated to wiping out human life. If the world cannot organise against war, if war must go on, thcn,nnt.ions can protect: themselves henceforth only by using whatever destructive agencies they can invent, till the resources and inventions <•( science end by destroying the humaniiv that tliev were meant to serve. The T'rtissian authorities' have apparently but one idea of peace, an iron peace imposed on other nations by German supremacy. Thev do not understand that free men and'free nations will rather die than submit to that ambition, and uiat there can be no end to war till it fc defeated and renounced.