' SATURDAY, AUGUST 11,1917. . THE WAR AIMS OF AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3160, 11 August 1917, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1917. THE WAR AIMS OF AMERICA

The whirligig of timo works some remarkable, changes.. in the dip-flomaoy-of nations. On December 7, 1824, Mr. Monroe, President of the United States, in his annual' Message said: "Separated as we aro from Europe by the great Atlantic Ocean, we can have no concern in the.wars of the European Governments nor in the causes which pro-, duce them." • This declaration, amplified by Mr. Monroe on another occasion, forms tho so-called Monroe Doctrine. This Doctrine has been variously, interpreted and applied. But amid tho varying interpretations the Doctrine has up till now been always held to teach that the United States must take no part in a war in Europe. "New occasions teach new duties." The United States to-day is passionately "concerned" in a war in Europe and in tho cause which has produced it. In one respect the Monroe Doctrine has become, an "obsolete shibboleth." The "great Atlantic Ocean" will carry on its bosom to Europe the armies of the Great Eepublic, and they will Kelp to bring about the crushing defeat of the German foe of the world's'freedom. To-day, from one end of the Eepublic to the other; the- forces of the-nation —economic, industrial, military, and naval—are being organised to /help to bring about a decisive victory and a lasting peace. Party political warfare has ended: Tho strongest opponents of Wilson during the last Presidential campaign are bow his warmest supporters. Judge Hughes, his opponent in the' fight, lias said with regard to Wilson's second of April call to arms: "There lias been no finer statement of our principles, of our ideals, of the motives that influence us, since the days of Lincoln, than that stated in the matchless State paper of President Wilson." The dead hand of the past no longer restrains President or Congress from participating in a great conflict for freedom across the sea. The nation is transformed. The stirring spectacle recalls the eloquent.words of John Milton: —

■■ "Methinks. in my mind a noble and puissant nalion rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see I her as an eagle mewing her mighty I youth 'and.kindling, her unclazzled eyes at the full midday beam: purging and unsealing her long-abused sight at tho fountain itself, of beavenly radiance." This mighty nation throbbing with life, in arras, and endowed with colossal resources in men and in money, is a cheering sight to every lover of freedom. . The nosition, however, of the United • States is singular in this war, and her war aims and her peace terms have to some extent been obscured. She is not a member of the formal alliance that binds -Britain, France,. Italy, and Ilussia,. who are at war with Germany/Austria, Turkey, arid BulThe United States formally is only at-war with Germany: her guns are no.t turned on Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey. That tho] United States has singled .out Germany and declared her alone to be the enemy of the world's peace must be a- painful blistering truth to the Kaiser and his War Lords and <i pregnant fact to tho average thoughtful German: that Germany is tho great Outlaw Nation in the eyes of America is a fact that stares each class in the face. Now. this formal attitudo of the United States so: far is satisfactory, but in this world-war the issues are very wide and there,-arc criminal Cowers other than Germany, and when.. ponce forms are-being framed-, the question may be raised, What, p-art will

the United States then play? Tho aims of Britain and her .Allies are summed up in the famous short phrase "Restitution and Reparation" to peoples and countries cursed by the Central Powers and Turkey. Will the United States stand lip,-in the clay of peace for something less than this'/ Can we get an assuring answer to such a question' At the end of the dav will the United States stand up for justice all round to wronged peoples? Satisfactory answers can be given to these questions. Although the United States is only formally at war with Germany, she is really at war on- behalf of the outraged' nations and peoples whose cause Britain and her Alli.es have so much at heart. Tho aims of the United States are larger than her formal declaration of war, and she stands to-dav for the watchword of the Allies, "Restitution and Reparation" all round. The files of American newspapers to hand furnish proof and illustration of such an .affirmation.

• The war aims of the United States and her intentions with regard to peace terms are set forth in two important statements' by Pkeside.nt Wilson—statements endorsed ' by Congress, and acclaimed by the peo*plc. The first statement, already familiar to our readers, was made on tho second of April to Congress, l.nd the other statement, the text of which has only recently reached New Zealand, was made in a Note to the Provisional Government dated May 26, but not made known in America till Juno 9. The statements in these documents arc satisfactory in every way. Tho second of April calls for a formal declaration of war.only, against Germany. But tho statement is wider than the formal declaration. America pledges itself in this statement to right the wrongs of Serbia as well as those of Belgium. It says: —

"It is a fearful thing to lend this great people inlo war. But the right is more precious than peace, and ivo shall light for the things which wo havo always carried nearest, our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to auFhority to have a. voice in their own governments, for the righ'ls and liberties, of .small nations, for a. universal dominion of right by such a mncert : of freo peoples as shall bring peace and safety lo all nations and make (he world at last free God helping her, she can do no other." The North American Review, which opposed Wilson in the light for tho Presidency because uf his attitude of neutrality, extols the wide reach of this declaration, and maintains that America's war aims are as wide as those of Britain and he>r Allies. It says regarding it: "Not side by side but as a natural and logical sequence of tho Dcclavar tion of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation stands the great Message of that which \vc heralded last month as Patriotism ancf now proclaim as Democracy. .[ . . So began tho ending of the Great War." The lesser-known document, the Note to .Russia, published in America on June 9, deals more specifically with the terms of peace. The.f cry had been raised in Russia of peace with "no annexations and no indemnities." Wilson in his Note deals with such a proposal and sets forth,.among other things, what a leading American journal calls "tho peace terms wi> arc fighting for." The Note describes peace on the following terms: —

No people must he forced to live under sovereignty under which it docs not ■ wish'to live; ' No territory must change hands except for the purpose of socuririg thoso who inhabit it a lair chance of life aiid liberty. No indemnity must he insisted on except those that constitute payment fur manifest wrong. Th&.iVcw York Evening Hail finds in such declarations an endorsement of the Enienlc's demands, _ which it says are: "Alsace-Lorraine for prance; an independent Poland, including the Polish provinces in Germany and Austria; Transylvania for Rumania; Bosnia and Herzegovina for Serbia; Trent, Trentino, ancl Austrian Adriatic provinces for Italy; and the German colonies for England." Such are the peace terras and war aims of the United States, and we can understand now the reason why the Governments of Britain, France, ancl Italy expressed profound satisfaction, with President Wilson's Note ■to Russia. The United States stands .pledged to a'peace based on "Restitution and Reparation," and without such a peace the stupendous sacrifices of this war would h'ave been made very largely in vain. The United States attitude to-day is that described over sixty years ago by Joseph Mazzini, truly called by Oarlyle one of the martyr souls of history: "Within the last two or three months a voice has reached us from across the Atlantic saying: Evil is being done daily in Europe; we will not tolerate its triumph, we will no longer give Cain's answer to God who has made us free; we will not allow foreign armies to suppress the aspirations which we hold sacred, ideas which,may enlighten us. Let every people be free to live its twn life. To maintain this liberty we are ready to intervene . . . . by the . sword."