"NO HUGGER-MUGGER PEACE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 255, 16 July 1918, Page 6

"NO HUGGER-MUGGER PEACE"

MR. LLOYD GEORGE ON THE IMPERIAL < WAR AIMS DOMINIONS' VOICE IN THE SETTLEMENT London, Jnly 14. Mr. Lloyd George, speaking at a ([inner given by the Ministry of Information to tho Canadian editors] paid a (ribnto to Canada's part in the war and tho achievements of the Canadian soldiers at the front. Since the beginning of the war, ho said, Canada had manufactured fifty-five million shells and forty-fivo million cartridges. One of the results of tlie war would be ,i real change in the character of the British Empire. "This is a war," he said, "in which we ei gaged (ho Dominions without consulting them, because there was no time to do so. It is true that tho Dominions a] proved our policy of protecting the small States of Europe. Henceforth you will have the right to be consulted beforehand. The contributions you have made to enforce our treaties give you an undeniable- right to a voice in fashioning 111 • policy which may commit you. For that reason the Imperial War Cabinet is a reality. There the Dominions' representatives sit with the representatives of the British Empire, to consult and to decide, under absolutely equal conditions. That is making a'great change in the history of the Empire. You must have a voice in the settlement of the peace conditions. The War Cabinet has discussed the war aims and the conditions on which we are prepared to make peace. We arrived at an agreement on this subject last year with tlie representatives of the Dominions; and we shall reconsider the same problems in the light of the events which have occurred since. I have no doubt that in the course of the next few weeks, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland will determine the-condi-tions und*r which they are prepared to make peace. Unless,! ani mistaken, we are pretty well in agreement. Then must bo no 'hugger-mugger' peace. We have wholly lost hundreds of thousands of men, and- have had millions maimed. We have not made these sacrifices ih order to establish fraud upon th'e earth. Anything less than a real peace would be to defraud not this generation, but the next; and it would also defraud human-ity.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. • . SOCIALISTS AND THE WAR THE INTERNATIONAL MOVE-' : '■ MENT London, July 13. Mr. Arthur Henderson, speaking at the Northampton conference of Labour organisations, said that five replies had been received from Socialists in enemy countries to the memorandum on war aims from the conference. The Bulgarian Socialists accepted practically all tho general points concerning Macedonia. The Hungarian Socialists and also tae German Minority Socialists had submitted to the Stockholm Committee of the International Socialists' Conference a statement of policy much on the lines of the inter-Allied memorandum. The Austrian Socialists accepted the principles of the inter-Allied memorandum as a basis of discussion. They endorsed the federal system for Austria-Hungary and agreed to the suggestion for a federation of Balkan States. Th'ey declared they always repudiated the Brcst-Litovsk and Rumanian treaties, and agreed that the solution of the Italian, Polish, colonial, and Alsace-Lorraine questions must conform with the desires of the peoples'concerned. The German Majority Socialists drew up a document which they en'trusted to Troelstra to present to the British Labour Conference. The action of the British Government in refusing Troelstra permission to land prevented this document reaching Britain, but a summary had been received showing that the German Majority Socialists were , ready to take part in an international 'Socialist conversation on the basis of the proposals which the neutral Stockholm Socialists had drawn "Up. They also accepted practically all tho general principles of the inter-Allied memorandum, and were ready to discuss the responsibility for the war, though they did not be lieve any good would result from such a discussion. They were prepared to discuss the Alsace-Lorraine question, believing an amicable solution was possible. They agreed to the necessity for the complete restoration of Belgium's independence, and declared that a League of Nations was necessary to destroy Imperialism nnd prevent aggression. * Mr. Henderson contended that the replies justified the demand for facilities for holding an International Conference, , which would help to clear away misunderstandings and . misconceptions, and- strengthen the will for peace in enemy countries. The conference would show the peoples of the Central Empires that' their rulers had misled ■ and deceived them, and would not attempt to negotiate for peace. or take binding decisions.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ■ [The Inter-Allied Socjalist Conference held inFebruary Inst agreed to a memorandum declaring that the peoples of Europo are the chief sufferers by tho war, though not responsible for the outbreak. The invasion of Belgium and France, declares the memorandum, threatens the very existence of .independent nationalities, and strikes a blow at the faith of treaties; therefore victorious German Imperialism would mean the defeat and destruction of European democracy and liberty. The Socialists are not warring with the Auslro-German peoples, 'but with the Governments who oppose them. While inflexibly resolved to fight until the task of liberation is achieved, Socialists oppose a war of conquest.! STRONG SOCIALIST ANTI-GERMAN DEMONSTRATION (Rec. July 15, il.dO p.m.) London, July 14. A pro-Ally Socialist demonstration at Trafnlgar Square resolved, inter alia, to oppose peace terms until tho Hohenzollorns and Hapsburgs had suffered a, military defeat or been thrown off by their own peoples, and demanded full compensation for German outrages and devastation.—Renter.