THE PEACE OFFENSIVE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 172, 10 April 1918, Page 6

THE PEACE OFFENSIVE

GERMANY'S LAST HOPE THE WAR BEHIND THE LINES (By "A.A.M.," the Well-known Contributor to London "Punch.") ■ [By authority of the War Office, per favour of the Uoyal ColonialInstitute.] A Frenchman said at the beginning of tlio war that Franco would win. if only the civilians could hold out.. Later on, when the first successes or his country wero checked, a very , prominent German said that victory would go to the nation, with the stoutest nerves. The moment wiucn they both foresaw is here now. Ine battle, for the next few months, is primarily a battle not between soldier, but between civilians. So much has been written about thai hardships which our soldiers bear, that,the hardships of our civilians have not* seemed to call for much notice. 'Its. worse in the trenches" is an easy way of dismissing them. I must say that,, as a soldier, I like to hear civilians say this to each other; it is a. generous requisition of the truth. But that is no. reason why this other truth should not. bo recognised; that the civilians have very real hardships to bear, and that, if accident had not put some of us into the Army we might have found it; difficult to face those hardships with, equal courage. I try to see myself ib. your position, Madam; ever-rising; prices, ever-lengthening queues, airraids, and ever-increasing anxiety for the children's safety, a week's frost and a shortage of coal, a burst pipe and,, no plumber available, and then on tlie; top "of it all a touch of influenza—howshould I carry on ? Could I still wear the civilian's V.C. ("Very Cheerful ) or even the M.C. ("Moderately Cheerful")? I wonder. "Be On Your Guard!" In Franoe there are notices posted; up which say: "Enemy ears are listening. Bβ on your guard!" Now .if thegentleman sitting next to you in the. train is obviously a. Teuton; w> th a false pair cf whiskers on his face ind. a couple of oarrier-pigeons in nis pocket, you naturally refrain from repeating aloud the latest story from, ■'someone in the War Office who really knows." But even if the only other, person in the carriage is obviously British and if you have no stories from the War Office" to tell, still •'be on your guard." Weariness is a very insidious disease, which spreads rapidly. Do not, help to spread it; do not''weaken the home-front for the peace-offensive which is coming. For the peace-offensive is the only real hope which the Germans have left, however loudly they talk of a, military offensive on the • Westernfront. If they could not break throughat Ypros three years ago, they cannot break through to-day. But if Fhnaeuburg cannot break through, pernaps Kuhlmann can/ or Hertlrog, not hi Belgium, nor -in France, but m Britain "Peace-without annexations ;or indemnities"-it sounds so attractive to , the war-weary.

'Ware the Spider. It sounded* attractive to the Bolsheviks. They threw away their weapons and made haste to the Council table. But they have learnt something at Brest-Litovsk. Listen to the message which they have sent out, from there:— . "The Chancellor has tried to repeat the same speech which all the German Ministers since 191u>ve repeated, that Germany is offering to all her opponents a just peace, but they are liot willing to accept it, and so they arc tie only ones guilty cf Hie continuation of the war. No. bueti a conception, after the Eussian conditions of peace have been declared, is now out or date. When in the past the German Government spoke or. peace and appeared as striving tor it, then only those who knew German politics knew it was a he. At the present sucli a German fairy-tale i« completely destroyed by the German conditions of peace, in which an effort is made'to enslave the peoples ot Lithuania, Courlaud, and Poland. Yes, but what can Russia do now? Shu has thrown away her arms, and Germany is free to enslave Lithuania, Coiirland, and Poland. A very pretty victory for Germany. Now she Will try again. "Will you walk into my council-chamber?" sho says to Britain this time. What will the answnr be? Having read- what the Bolsheviks found there, are you, Sir, prepared to walk? .._