PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 92, 11 January 1918, Page 5

PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS

WHY THE UNITED STATES ENTERED THE WAR

PROGRAMME FOR THE WORLD'S PEACE

By Telegraph—Press ABsooiation-Copyright New York, January S. President Wilson, in his Message to Congress, the , first portion of which was published in yesterday's issue, said:— ■ The Russian representatives insisted, very justly and very wisely, and in the true spirit of modern democracy, that' the conferences they were holding with the Teutonic and Turkish ttatesmen should be hold in the open, and not within closed doors, and all the world hag been the audience, as was desired. ,To whom have wo been listening ? To those who speak in the spirit and in,'tentipn of tho resolutions of the German Reichstag of July 9 last, the spirit .and intention of the Liberal leaders and parties of Germany, or to those who resist and defy that spirit and L.tention and insist upon conquest and subr jugation? Or are we listening in fact to both, unreconciled, and in open and hopeless contradictions? These are very serious and pregnant questions. Upon ' the answer to them depends the peace of the world. But, whatever tfce results of the parleys afc Brest Litovsk, whatever conclusions they counsel, and whatever purpose was in the utterances of the spokesmen of the Central Empires, those Empires have again attempted to acquaint the world with their objects in the war, and have again challenged their adversaries to say what their objects'are, and what sort of settlement they deem just and 1 satisfactory. The Thought and Purpose of tho Allies. There is no good reason why that challenge should not be responded to with the utmost candour. We did not wait for the challenge. Not once, but again and again, we have laid our whole thought and purpose before the world, not in general terms .only, but each time with sufficient definition to make clear what sorb of definite terms of settlement must necessarily spring out of them. Within the last w«ek Mr. Lloyd George has spoken with admirable candour and spirit for tho roople and Government of Britain. There is no confusion of counsel among tho adversaries of the Central Powers, no un- ' certainty of principle, no vagueness of detail. The only secrecy of .counsel, the only lack of fearless frankness, the only failure to make a definito statement of the objects of the war, lies with Germany and her Allies. The issues of life and death hang upon these definitions.- No statesman who has the least conception of Hs responsibility ought for a moment to permit himself to continue this tragical outpouring of blood and treasures unless ho is sure beyond peradventure that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part and parcel of the very life of society, and that the people for whom.he speaks think them as right and imperative as he does. * ■ The Voice of the Russian People. There is, moreover, a voice calling.for these definitions of principle and purpose which seems to me more thrilling and more, compelling than any of the many other moving voices with which the troubled air of the world is filled, and that is the voice of the Russian people. They are prostrate, and all but hopeless, before the grim power of Germany ■ yet their soul is not subserrient. They will not yield either in principle or in action their conception ' of what is right, of what is human and honourable for them to _ accept, and that conception has been stated with a frankness, largeness of view, generosity of spirit, and universal human sympathy which must challenge the admiration of every friend of mankind. They have refused to compound their ideals or to desert others that they themselves may be safe. They call to us to say ■ what we desire, in what our purpose and spirit differ from theirs. I believe the people of the United States would wish me to respond with utter simplicity and frankness. Whether their present leaders believe it or not, it is our heartfelt desire and hope that some way may be opened whereby we may he privileged to assist the people of Russia to attain their utmost hope of liberty and ordered peace. The Day of Conquest and Aggrandisement Cone. It will be our wish and purpose that the process of peace, when begun, shall ho absolutely open, and shall permit henceforth no secret understanding of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandisement has gone; so also has the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular Governments likely at some unlooked for moment to upset the peace of the world. We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick, and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secured once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world shall he mado fit and safe- to live in, and particularly that it shall be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own Ufa and determine its own institutions, assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. Ali the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice is done to others it will not be done to.us. The programme for the world's . peace, therefore, is our programme. The Only Possible Programme for the World's Peace, That programme, the only possiblo programme as we see it, is this:— Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly, and in public view. Absolute freedom of navigation of the seas outside territorial waters alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international i ction for the enforcement of international covenants. The romoval, as far as , -possiblo, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equality of trado conditions among all nations consenting to the peaco and associating themselves for its maintenance. Adequate guarantees, given and taken that national armaments sliull he reduced to tho lowest jroint consistent with domestic safety. Free, open-minded, and! absolute! y impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon strict observance of the principle that, in determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests cf tho populations concerned' must have equal weight with tho equitable claims of tho Government whoso title is to be determined. The evacuation of all Russian t elT itory, and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as shall secure the best and freest co-opera-tion of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity f O r tho independent determination r-f her own political development and national policy, and to assure her a sincere welcome into the society of fr eo nations under tho institutions of her own choosing, and also .assistance o f every kind shn may need. Thfi treatment accorded to Russia by tho B i s tcr nations in the months to conm will bo tho acid test of their good «ill and their comprehension of her needs, as distinguished from their o wn interests. Belgium, the whole world will ag reOj m ust bo evacuated and restored without'any. attempt to limit the sov erc i;r n ty which sho enjoys in common with all other free nations. No oth or £j n gi 0 ac t would serve sis this would to restore confidence among t no nations in the laws which they themselves have set and determined f or the government of their relations with one another. Without this hoalj ng the whole structure and validity of international law will be f orcv or impaired. All French territory should bo i re c(], and the invaded portions restored: and the wrong dono to Franc 0 by Prussia in 1871 in Al-Siice-Lorraino, which has /unsettled t] lo p6aco o f tho world for nearly nI ty years, should bo righted, in order th a t peace shnll onco more bo made secure in the interests of all. A readjustment of frontiers of Italy should bo effected along clearly recognisable lines of nationality. Tho peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among tho nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should bo accorded the freest opportunity for autonomous development. . Rumania, Serbia, ani Montenegr o should be evacuated and the occupied territories restored. Serbia should be accorded freo and secure access to tho sea. . .. . The relations of tho.sevoral JTalka n States should be determined by friendly counsel, along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality, and international guaranteo 8 of the political and ■ economic independence and territorial jintegrity of the several Balkan States should be entered into.

Tho Turkish portions of tho presont Ottoman Empire should ho assured of secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities now under Turkish rulo should be assured of undoubted security of lifo and absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous developments. Tho Dardanelles should bo permanently opened us a, freo passage for the ships and commerce of all nations, under international guarantees. An independent Polish Stato should bo enacted, which should include tho territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should bo assured free and hccuro sicness to the sea. Their political and economic independence and territorial integrity should bo guaranteed by ;iu international covenant. A general Association of Nations must bo formed, under sprwlic covenants, for tho purpose of affomling mutual guarantees of political 111dopondenco and territorial integrity: to great and small States alike. Willing to Fight that Right may Prevail. In regard to theso essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of ricrhfc we°fecl ourselves intimates partners of all the Governments and peoples associated together against Imperialists. AVo cannot bo separated in interest, or divided in purpose. AVe stand together until the end for such arrangements and covenants. AVe arc willing to fight and to continue- to light until they are achieved, but only because wu wish right to provail, and desire a just and stable peace, such as can bo ssocured only by removing tho cliu-t provocations to war, which this progs-ammo doos remove A\o have no jealousy of German greatness. There is nothing in tho programme that impairs it. AVo grudge her no achievement or distinction- of learning or pacinc enterprise, such as has made her record vory bright and enviable \\ odo not wish to injure her, or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. AVo do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangement of trade, if she is wiling to associate herself with us and the other peaceloving nations of the world in covenants of justico, law, and fair dealing. AVe wish hor only to accept a placo of equality among the peoples or tno world the now world in which we now live, instead of a place or mastery. Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification other institutions; but it is necessary that ;wo must frankly say, and it is. necessary as preliminary to any intelligent dealing with her on our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us: whethor they speak for the- ltcichstag Majority or for tho iUUitaiy Party, and for men whoso creed is inipenail domination.

The Principle of Justice. all Peoples. AVe hare spoken now in terms too concise to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident principle runs through the whole programme outlined—the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities their riglit to live on equal terms of liberty and safctjf-with one another, whethor tuey are stronjr or weak. Unless this principle is made its foundation no part of international justice can stand. Tho people of the United States could act en no other principle,- and to the vindication of this principle they arc ready to 'devote their lives and honour and everything they possess, flie moral climax of this tho culminating and final war for human liberty, has come, lliey are ready to put their own strength to the highest purposes, and their own integrity and devotion to the test.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.