The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1916. WON, BUT NOT COMPLETED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2874, 12 September 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1916. WON, BUT NOT COMPLETED

■ "The war is already won," says General Brusiloff; but it is not yet over. When ho says the war is won the Russian General means that the tide of war has now definitely set in our'favour, and that tho defeat of the enemy must come sooner or later, provided that we continue to put all the power we possess into the struggle. Though he says victory is now assured, he is _ careful to guard himself against misunderstanding by his prediction regarding the restoration of peace. hi his opinion peace will not come till August of next year. The position is undoubtedly very satisfactory from the point of view of tho Alius. Every clay their prospects are improving, while the outlook-for the Central Powers is becoming more and more hopeless. General Brusiloff speaks like a veteran chess player who has an inevitable checkmate in view long before the last move is made. He knows that his opponent cannot possibly escape defeat. General Joffre may not have expressed himself quite so emphatically as his Russian colleague, but his words to M. Marcel Hutin show that ho is equally sure that tho Allies must win. "Our Allies and ourselves, I assure you,' : he said, "hold the whip hand." He laid stress on the need for confidence and patience. There are no pessimists in our forces at tho front. The spirit of optimism pervades the whole army. Officers and men have always had an unshakable belief in victory, and recent ovents have converted balief into practical certainty. But now that victory is coming into sight it is well that we should remind ourselves that the war must bo won thoroughly—out and out. Wo must guard against being hurriocl into the acceptance of a patchecl-up peace. On this the views of our soldiers should command attention, Sir Douglas Haig urges that tho coming victory shall not be mado an empty one. He insists that "wo must impose a peace which is worth our while to have fought for'. Wc shall have earned it." Our terms must be so severe that the Germans will have to be beaten to their knees bef oro they will agree to them. Lord Cromer has recently reminded us that wc have to deal, not merely with a proud people, but with a people in whom past success has engendered a degree of arrogance without parallel in the history of the world, and it may be taken for granted that the minimum terms of peace which tho Allies could accept would involve profound humiliation for Germany. This criminal nation must be humiliated, and ought to bo humiliated. She must be punished • for her crimes, compelled to make the.fullest reparation for tho wrongs she has committed, and deprived of the power to renew tho struggle a few years hence, and again put civilisation in jeopardy. This has been said before, but it will bear repetition. It is necessary that we should steel oursclves-r-therc must be no weakening in our resolution as the end draws near. At a timo when the outlook for Prussia was black in the extreme Frederick the Great declared that he would never allow • himself to be forced to sign his dishonour by making a disadvantageous peace. Much' tho samo spirit exists in Germany today. The Allies must bo prepared to meet it, and to crush it. "Tho only conclusion," writes Lord Cromer, "to be drawn from tho facts as they are at present is that the Allies must continue tho war until Germany is vanquished to such an extent as to be obliged to accept whatever terms may be dictated to her." The resisting power of Germany will havo to be smashed to pieces before sho will part with Alsace-Lorraine. But Franco must get back her lost provinces. It is said that some uneasiness has been felt in France as to whether

the British people fully realise that France must regain all the territory which Germany took from her in 1871. lteferring to this (joint, the Spectator undoubtedly voices tho sentiments of every part of tho British Empire when it assures "our French brothors-in-arms that the British people understand this absolutely and entirely, and that there is nothing further from their thoughts than to suggest that France; in any circumstances, shall forego her just and legitimate claim to-tho restoration of the soil that was hers up till 1871." Germany will have to submit to other terms equally galling to her national pride. For instance, she will have to give up the island of Heligoland. This would be a bitter pill to swallow, but not so bitter perhaps as to be forced to hand over to tho Allies what remained of her fleet." But these items in tho peace terms merely touch the fringe of the matter. Tho full restoration of tho soil of Belgium and Serbia must be a condition which allows of no compromise; the claims of Poland must bo met; the restoration to Italy of tho Trentino and ' tho Tyrol; the transfer of Transylvania to llumania; the handing over of the Kiel Canal to some international body; tho replacement from the German mercantile fleet of the vessels sunk in defiance of law and humanity by German submarines; the finding of Turkish rule in Europe; and tho. payment of huge indemnities—all these and other, conditions must bo imposed to ensure a fitting peace. The war will have to go on until the Central Powers arc so thoroughly beaten and exhausted that the Allies will bo in a position to insist on their own terms. The settlement is not going to bo fixed by bargaining and haggling between tho Allies and tho Central Powers. The Allies will come to an agreement among themselves as to the conditions of peace, and Germany and her dupes will bo compelled to acquiesce. In a recent book Dr. Holland Rose, tho well-known historian, strongly insists upon the imperative necessity of reaching a thorough solution of the present international problem. "Better five years of war," he writes, "than tho ghastly fiasco of a stalemate." That is tho only sound view. Tho Spectator, discussing the same question in an articlo which has met with wide approval, remarks:—"Better ten years or ■ more <of war than a patchedup peace, which will only bo preparatory to a now outbreak. We showed tho world that wc had not tho sense to prepare for war. At least we can show it that we know how to preparo for a stable peace."