WHAT BRITAIN THOUGHT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3044, 3 April 1917, Page 4

WHAT BRITAIN THOUGHT

6F THE PRESIDENT'S PEACE NATI?

MR BALFOUR'S REPLY

TEUTONIC LUST FOR WORLD POWER

The British. Foreign. Ofhco recently v : issued for -publication a dispatch -from Mr. Balfour to tho British Ambassador' . ?at Washington, to bo communicated,to. . tho United States Government;-in which ;. tlio Foreign Seorotary dwells on,. tho: ,-ovilsof Gorman militarism and lust ol domination, and indicates tho only con- ■ • editions oanvhioh a durable pcacc ean . be.niado. Tho following is tho full text ■of tho dispatch:— C. "Sir, —In sending you' a translation ■ iof tho Allied Notc, I desire to make tho following .■ observations, which: von r.should bring to tlio., uotico of the . .Umtod States Government. "I gather from tho general tenor of - 'the President's Note that .•white ho is •animated by an. jntonso desiro that . should como soon, and that when ' ''it comcsit'should bo' lasting, 'lie does, not, for tho moment at least; concern •himslf with tho terms on which it should bci arranged. His Majesty's Government entirely sharo the Presi- • ■ dent's ideals; but they feel strongly • ; that tho durability :of the peace must : vlargely depend, on-its character, and •that no. stable system of uitonmtional ; relations can bo built on foundations .-'Ovhich aro essentially and hopelessly defective. ■ : : >■■■■::"This becomes clearly apparent if we consider, the mam conditions which rontfercd possible .tlio calamities, from wfycli - "tho world is now suftermg. Theso were tlio existence of a Groat .Power conAsiimcd with the lust of domination,-.in ■tho midst of a: fcommunitv of nations v.- ill-prepared for dofence, plentifully sup--plied, indeed, with international laws, ■ .'but with no machinery for, enforcing them, and weakened by the faot- that neither tho boundaries of the-various rJrStates nor their.'internal constitution' ;; ; Harmonised with tho aspirations oftlieir- ■ constituent races or secured to them just and equal .treatment. • '"That this l last ovil would bo greatly ■v. mitigated if . the Allies : secured the '."changes in tho inap of Europe outlined . ■ in their, joint Not© is manifest, and I . seed not labour tho point. Turkish Misrule. "It has been, argued, indeed, that , : 4bo expulsion of the Turks from Europe forms no proper or logical part.of this ; general scheme; . Tho maintenance of ■ . ; tho Turkish Empire " was . during many " genorations regarded ,by statesmen of • : .•world-wide authority, iis 'osseutial to '<• tho 1 maintcnanco! of: European peace. ' - ' IWhji it is- asked, should the causo of\ ■ •;: -peaoo bo nowvassociated with a cora- \ plate reversal of this traditional policy? v • •"Tho. answer. is 1 that circumstances have completely changed. It js un- ■ necessary to consider now whether the • ; creation of .a- reformed Turkey mediat- . ' ingibotween hostile .races m the Near ■ .East was a scheme-which, bad tho Sultan been sincere and the Powers ■ united, could ever liavo boon realised. : : ■ It certainly cannot bo; realised, now. : Tho Turkey of "Union and Progress" , is at, least as barbarous and is far more aggressive than the' Turkey of Sultan 'Abdul. Hannd", . .Iu the hands of Ger- ' ; many it has ceased' evon in appearance ■■■■. to bo a bulwark of peace, and is openly. used as an instrument of conquest.

Under German officers Turkish, soldiers are now fighting in lands from which 'they: had long boon expelled, 'and a Turkish Government, subsidised, and supported by Germany, has been guilty of . massacres in Armenia. and Syria more liorriblo. than .m.V recorded in tho history oven of tlieso unhappy countries. Evidently tho interests of peace and tlio claims of nationality alike requiro that Turkish rulo ; over alien, races shall, if possible, bo brought to an ond;'aud wo may hope that the expulsion of Turkey'from Europo will, contribute as much to the causo of pcaco as tlio restoration of Alsacc-Lorraino to Franco, of Italia lrredoiita. to. Italy, or any of*tho other territorial changes indicated in the Allied Note. • , "Evidently,, however, such territorial rearrangements, though tTicy . may diminish the occasions of war,' provide no sufficient security against its recurrence. If Germany, or rather those hi Germany who mould'its opinions ( and control- 31s.destinies, again' set out to dominate tho: word, they may iind that- by tho new order of things tho adventure is made, rtfori; difficult, but' hardly that it is made impossible. They may still have ready to' their'hand a political system organised .through and -through.on a military basis they uiay still accumulate vast, 'storos fof military equipment; they: may. still perfect their methods of attack, so' that their iiiot'o pacific .neighbours will be struck down before they can'prepare themselves for defence, lf so, Europe wheii the war is over will-be'far poorer in men, in nioncy, and in' mutual goodwill than it was when.;tho war began, but it will,not'be saffr; and- the hopes for tho future of the world entertained by-the President will bo as far as ever from fulfilment. "Scraps of Paper." "There; are; those who! think that for this disease international treaties aiid:! -international laws'may .provide'a suf-: ficieiit cure, But such persons , have ill-learned the lessons so clearly taught by recoiit: history. While other nations, •"notably tlio United States of America and Britain, were striving by. Treaties of, Arbitration to mako sure tliat.no chance.quarrel should mar tlio peace they desired to mako perpetual, CJermany stood aloof. Her historians ,and, philosophers preached' tho splendours , of war: Power was , proclaimed la'sitho true end.of tlio State-}I the 'General. Staff forged, with, untir-i ing industry the weapons by which, at the appointed moment; Poiv;er might be achieved, v These facts proved clearly .enough , that, treaty, arrangements for maintaining peace were iiot likely to find much favour at Berlinj theydid not prove that such treaties, once made,, would, be utterly . ineffectual.; This' became', evident, only! when." war had broken out; though 'the demonstration, . when.;'.it'. came,was over-; Whelming. ' ' So long as Germany remains the Germany which, without a shadow of , justification, overran, and barbarously, ill-treated a country it was pledged to defend, r.o ; State': can 5 legard its,-rights as secure if they liave! no better than /a solemn tneaty. : ; ,' r -' "The.ca'so is made worsc by. tho reflection that these methods of calculated brutality wero designed by tlio Central Powers not merely to, crush to .the dust those with whom they ,'wero at • war, but to intimidate/tliose with whom they, were! still, at peace,': ..Belgium was not onlv a' victim: it was an example. Neutrals wore.'.- intended,, to noto the' outrages which: accompanied its conquest, the reigii of terror which followed on its Occupation', tlio deporta-' tion of a portion:: of its population,'; the cruel .oppression of the. remainder. And lest : nations happily protected, either by 1 British fleets ' or by , tlieir. own, from German.'armies,, should suppose themselves ! shfei froni German methods, the ' submarine- lias . (within

its limits) assiduously imitated tho liarbaric practices of the sister sorvioo. The War Stall's qf tho. Central Powers aro well content to horrify the world if at tho same time they can terrorise it. ■ ■

"If, then, tho Central Powers succeed, it will be to methods lilco these that they will owe their success. How can any reform .of'international relations be based ,on a peaco thus obtained? Such a peace would represent tho triumph of all the forces which iualto war certaiu and make it brutal. It'would advertise the futility of all the methods on which civilisation relies to eliminate the occasions of international dispute and to mitigate their ferocity. Germany and Austria made the present war inevitable by attacking tho rights of oiio small State, and they gained their initial triumphs by violating the treaty-guarded territories of ■another. Aro small States going to find in them their future protectors, or in treaties made by them a; bulwark against aggression? Terrorism, by land and sea will have proved itself, the instrument of victory. Are the' victors •likely to abandon it on the appeal of .the neutrals?. If existing treaties are .110 more than scraps of paper, can fresh treaties help us? If the violation oi tho most fundamental canons of international'.law be crowned with success, will it not be in vain that tho assembled nations labour to,improve, their code? None will profit by their rules but the criminals Who break them. It is those who keep them that will suffer. - • Aims of the Entente. "Though, therefore, the people of this country sharo to tho full tho desire of the President for peace, they 'do .not believe that peace can be durable if it be not based on, the success of the Allied'cause.' For a durable' pcaco can 'hardly be expected unless three conditions are fulfilled. The. first is tliat the existing causes of international u'nrc&t should be' as far-as possible removed or weakened. The second' is that tho aggressive aims and the unscrupulous mothodsof the Central Powers should fall' into' .disrepute among their owa peoples. Tho third is that behind international law, and behind all treaty arrangements for preventing or limiting hostilities, sonio' form of international sanction should be devised which would rgivo pause to tho hardiest aggressor. ' . ' _ ■ "Those conditions may bo difficult of fulfilment. But we believe them to bo in general,harmony witli the President's ideals, and we are confident that none of them can be satisfied, even imperfectly, unless'peace be secured on the general lines indicated (so far as Europe is concerned) in the Joint Note. Therefore it is that this country has made, is making, and is prepared to make,; sacrifices of blood and treasure unparalleled iii its* history. It boars these: heavy burdens not ' merely .that; it may thus fulfil its treaty obligations; nor. yet that it may secure a barren triumph of ono group of nations over another, it bears' them bocause it firmly beHeves that on tlio success of the. Allies depend the prospccts of peaceful civilisation and of those international reforms which tho best thinkers of: the New- World, as of the Old, dare to hope may follow on the cessation of our present am, etc.,' '■ - ■• . "ARTHUR "JAMES BALFOUR."

HOW MR. BONAR LAW EXPRESSED IT

: Mr. Bonar Law,! speaking at a war loan meeting at Bristol, thus referred to the. speech'of; President Wilson 011 peace: . "Wo are," he-said; "looking forward to. i;eae'o. . The Germans the other day made. 11s what , tliey called air offer of peace. It roeeived from tho 'Allied Governments' tlie only reply which was. possible. (Cheers.) You have read the speech ' mado lay 'President Wilson. It Was a frank speech.

It. is right that any member of any Allied Uovernmunt who lel'ers, to'it should speak frankly, too. It is impossible that he anil' wo can look on this question,-..from tlio same point of view. Whatever his private feelings may bo tlio hi||:(l of a. groat neutral Stale must take a neutral attitude. America is vcry#i'ar removed from tlio horrors of thia war. Wo are in tlio midst of it. America is neutral. Wo aro not neutral. Wo bclievo that tlio cssonco of this conflict is the question —which is as old as time—of tho difference between right and wrong. (Cheers.) ' Wo believe—we know—that this.was a war of naked aggression. Wo know that the crimos which have conduct of that war, crimes almost incredible ' after two thousand years of Christianity, we know that those crimes aro small in comparison with the initial crimo by which tho men responsible for the policy of ..Germany -with cold-blooded calculation, bocauso they thought it would' pay, plunged the world into the horrors wo aro enduring. President Wilson's aim is to havo peace now and security for peaco in the future. That is our aim also, and it is our only aim. lie- hopes to secure it by mean, of a League, of Peace among tho nations, and lie is trying to get the American Senate to do something to ::iake this possible. It would not bo right, in my opinion, for us to look upon that suggestion as altogether Utopian. You know that until quite recently duelling was common. Now the idea that a private quarrel should be. settled by a sword is unthinkable.

A Question of Life or Death. "But, aftor/all, it is for us nVt an abstract question for the future. It is a question of life or death now, and whether we consider that the aim which he and we I;ave in common can bo secured bv his methods wo cannot forget the past. (Cheers.) For generationshumane men, men of gcod-will ampng all nations, havo striven by Haguo Conventions,- by Poace- Conferences, by every ; -means to make war impossible. (A. voice: "Not Germany.") T said 'Humane men. (Loud oheers.) They have striven, it riot to make it impossible, to mitigato its horrors and. to see. how tlio_ barriers against barbarism could be maintained. At the outbreak of war Germany swept asido every one of these barriors and tore up the 'scraps of paper' : which they had solemnly signed. She spread mines in the open sea. On sea and land she committed , atrocities, incrediblo atrocities contrary to conventions which she had herself signed. At this moment she is driving tho populations of enemy territory into. slavery, ana, worse.than that, in some cases sho is. making the subjects of the Allies take up arms against their own country. ("Shame."). Air that has happened, and no neutral'country has been able to stop it,- and more than *h R t 110 neutral country has made any protest—at • least no effective protest. It is for us a question of lifo or death. • , We must havo stronger guarantees than that for the future peaco of the world. (Cheers.) Wo Lave rejected the proposal to enter into peace negotiations, not from any hist of conquest, not from any longing for shining victories, We have rejected it not from anv feeling of yindiontiypness, or 6ven a. desire for revenge. Wo have rejected it because peaco now would. mean - peaco based upon a German victory. It would mean a military machine, which was still unbroken. It would mean also that that-machine would bo in the hands of -generations prepared for war, who would setabout preparing for it again, _aiul at, their own time plunge us Again into tho miseries which wo aro enduring to-day. What President AVilson is longing for wo aro fighting for." . . A great demonstration followed this last remark. Tlio audience stood and

cheered for a long time, and thero were cries of "Bravo, Bonar Laivl" Proceeding, tho Chancellor said: "Our sons and brothers aro dying for it, and, wo mean to secure it. The heart of- tlio people of our country is longing for peaco. AVe. are praying for peaco, a peaco that will bring back ill safety those who are dear to us, tout a peace' which would mean this—that those who will never come back should not have laid down their lives til vain." (Loud and long-continucd cheering.) .