AUSTRIA AND PEACE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 60, 4 December 1917, Page 5

AUSTRIA AND PEACE

THE SPECTRE OF FINANCIAL RUIN

COUNT CZERNIN ON WAR AIMS

Count Czernin, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, replying to an invita- | tion to make a statement on foreign policy, said in the course of his speech: "I feel compelled to-day to say something in public as to the Austro-Hun-garian Government's ideas as regards the restoration of European relationships which have been completely shattered. In broad outlines our programme for the re-establishment of order in the world (which might more accurately be described as the constraction of a new order in the world) has been laid down in our reply to the Peace Note of our Holy Father. The only consideration to-day, therefore, is to complete this programme, and, above all, to explain the considerations which determined tis to set up these Principles in opposition to the system hitherto prevailing. "To many people it may appear astonishing and inconceivable that tho Central Powers, especially( AustriaHungary. desire to make a renunciation in respect of military armaments, as, after all, in these heavy years it was only in their military power that they found protection against manifold superiority. The war has not only produced new facts and conditions. has also led to new which havo shaken the foundations of European politics as they existed before. Among manv other political theses the one which especially has crumbled is that which held that' Austria-Hungary w? s a moribund State.. It was the dogma, ot the impending dissolution of the ilonarchv which made our position in !,u----rope' difficult and from which sprang all lack of appreciation of our vital needs. Ry provinc ourselves in this war thoroughly sound and at least equal to others the result is that we can now reckon upon a complete, understanding of our vital needs in Europe, and hopes that we piav be overthrown by force or arms are destroyed, tlntil the moment came when we had given proofs of tills we could not give up the protection of our armaments and expose ourselves to spiteful treatment on-questions vital to us bv an Areopagus influenced by the Vend of our impending collapse. '

The Basis of Right. "Now, however, when this proof lias been given, we are in a position simultaneously with our Allies to lay aside our arms and regulate a.nv future conflicts ,Ky arbitration and in a peaceful moni/er. This new conception which has forced its way into the world affords us the opportunity not only ot accenting the idea, of disarmament and arbitration, bit, as you, gentlemen, know, of working as we hare done for a considerable time past with all our energy towards its realisation. Europe must without doubt nftcr tins war lie placed 011 a. new basis of right, offering a guarantee of nermanence. This has lß of mlit. I heliove, must essentially be fourfold: first, it must offer a security that a war of revenge cannot occur again on any side. A\e wish te achieve so much that we may he able to beoueath to. our children's children as a legacy that the* may be spam, the terrors of a terrible time such as-, we are now passing through. Ng shifting of power among the belligerent States can attain this end. Tlit only way to attain it is that mentioned—namelv, by international disarmament and" by the recognition of arbitration. , ii • "It is superfluous to state that this measure of disarmament must never be directed against any particular State or any particular group of Powers, anQ that it must of course comprise the land, sea, and air in the same degree. But war as an instrument of policy must be combated. On an international basis under international control, universal, equal, and gradual disarmament of all the States of tin world must take place, and the defensive force limited to what is absolutely necessary. "I know very well that this goal it extraordinarilv difficult to reach, ant that the path leading to >it is beset with difficulties; that it is long_ ant. thorny. Nevertheless, lam convinccu that it must bo trodden, and it slial; ho trodden. 110 matter whether individuals consider it desirable or not. It is a great mistake to believe that the world after this war will begin again where it left off in 1914. Catastrophes such as this war do not pass away without leaving deep traces behind, and the most terrible misfortune that could befall us would bo if the competition in armaments were to continue after the conclusion of peace; for ii would mean the economic rnin for all States. Even before this war oui military burdens were oppressive, although we especially should remembei that Austria-Hungarv was far fron! being ready in a military sense when she was surprised by the war. Only during the war did she make up foi her former neglected military equipment. In the event of unrestrained competition in armaments after thii war the "burdens for all States would be simply unbearable. Reduction of Armaments. "This war has taught us that we must reckon on a great increase oi former armaments. In order aftei' this war, with unrestricted rivalry in armaments, to be adequately equipped, the nations would have to multiply everything by ten. They would need ten times as many guns, munition factories, ships, and submarines as before, and also incomparably more soldiers to_ _ man all this' apparatus. The military estimates of all thd Great Powers would amount to milliards. That is impossible. With all the burdens which all the belligerent States, after the conclusion of peaco would have to bear, this expenditure, I repeat, would mean tho ruin of nations. To return, however, to the relatively small armaments prior to 1914 would for any one Stato be entirely impossible, because it would' thereby fall so much behind that its military power would not count, and consequently its expenditure would bo completely purposeless. Should, however, a general return to tho relatively low armament level of 1914 be brought about, that would of itself mean an international reduction of armaments, but there would bo no meaning in not going further and actually disarming.

Out of this difficulty there is only one, way—namely, complete international disarmament. Gigantic efforts will have no further purpose when the nations of the world guarantee tho freedom of tho seas, and land armies would have to be reduced to the level renuired by the maintenance of ci?rnal order. Only on nn international basis—that is, under intd'nationr.! control—is this possible. Every State will have to givo uo something of its independence for the purpose of ensuring world peace. /Probably the present generation will not live to see the end nf this great pacific, movement, in its entirety. It can only he realised slowly, but I consider it our duty to place ourselves at the head of this movement and do everything humanly possible to accelerate its materialisation. At the conclusion of peace its fundamental bases must be laid down. If its first Tirinoiple is that of obligatorv international arbifrntvin and sreneral disarmament on land, its second principle is that of freedom on th« hicli seas and iwval disarmament. T purposely sav the high seas, for I do not extend the id"a to the narrow seas, and I freely admit that for sea eormnunicaItions special rules and regulations must

obtain. If these two first factors which I have mentioned are made clear, then every ground for territorial guarantees disappears, and this is the third fundamental principle of a now international basis of right. This is the basis of an idea emphasised in the beautiful and sublime Note which the 'Pope issued. No Economio War. "The fourth principle which must be observed to ensure the free and pacific development of the world after those evil times is the free economic activity of all and absolute avoidance of future oconomic war. Economic war must bo absolutely eliminated from every future arrangement. Before we conclude peace we must have a. positive certainty that onr present opponents have relinquished this idea. "These, gentlemen, are the basic principles of the new world order as they are present to mv mind, and they are all founded on all-round _ disarmament. Even Germany, too, in answer to the Papal Note, has most emphatioally professed adherence to the idea or all-round disarmament, and our present opponents also have made these principles at least in part their own. On most points I am of different opinion from Mr. Lloyd George, but on the point that there must never again bo a war of revenge we are at one. "The question of indemnities which the Entente is always forward assumes a remarkable complexion when one considers the devastation which their armies have wrought in Galicia, the Bukowina, Tyrol, on the Isonzo, in East Prussia, and in the Turkish territories, and tho German colonies. Does the Entente intend to compensate us for all this, or is it so completely mistaken in its judgment of our psychology that it _ hopes for a one-sided indemnification ?_ I could almost; believe the latter, judging from the numerous speeches which we have heard."—Reuter.