The Dominion WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1918. FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 6, 2 October 1918, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1918. FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

Only one opinion is possible about the prospects opened for Germany in the news transmitted today. Her condition is now unmistakably that of thc_ beast at bay, and, so far as the military outlook is concerned, the only qucsI tion remaining to bo answered is how long she will be able to stave off complete and crushing defeat. Bright as the outlook is, however, it is very necessary to remember that the most promising- assurance of victory as not the same thing as victory in hand, and that the courage and good sense of the Allied nations are likely to be even more searchingly tested in the final stage of tho war than at _ any earlier time. It was a creditable feature of the speeches made at yesterday's local celebrations that all possible emphasis was laid upon the necessity of continuing to the end in the Eame spirit of determination as has. hitherto ruled, and of being content with nothing short of a peace that will justify the colossal sacrifices of the war. Such a peace evidently demands not 'only material restitution and reparation and territorial adjustments, but an exemplary punishment-of Germany— a punishment which will vindicate and re-establish the moral law she bas wantonly violated. In practical interpretation this no doubt means that the Allies are engaged in a wad 1 to the death upon the men who made the war and still control the policy of the Central Empires. It does not necessarily mean.that the German people, still less those of Austria-Hungary, will fight jto the last ditch. The essential fact meantime is that the Allies' arc_ bound even at the cost of prolonging, the war to unwaveringly maintain and uphold the ideals for which they stand. Their determination to hold no parley with Germany but • to fight on until they are able to dictate and enforce a just peace very possibly means that a grim ordeal is still to be faced, but there is no other way of reaching' a settlement that will as far as possible repair the moral and material havoc Germany has wrought in the world. Giving due weight' to ,these__ considerations, -it still holds goocl that Germany is to-day approaching defeat at. a rate which not long ago would have seemed impossjble. It has yet to be seen how far flic military masters of Germany are prepared to go in criminal desperation, and how far they are able to count on the continued subservience of the German people. But it cannot be doubted that if the Allied armies are loyally supported by the nations behind them they arb destined henceforth to advance from victory to victory until they reach their goal. It is hard to say at tho moment whether Germany's prospects are darkest in the Western theatre or in South-Eastern Europe; where she has been fatally Weakened by the defection of Bulgaria. In France and Flanders the Allied offensive is developing in_ circumstances of unredeemed disaster to the enemy. The events of the latest battles, in which the enemy's strongest 'defences manned by his best troops have been mastered by British and American divisions, lend not a little point to tho assertion of the Matin that Marshal Eoch's plan is to grip the enemy where _he stands and smash him to irretrievable defeat. . Tho best hope open to the enemy on the West front seems to be that of gaining temporary relief by an extended retreat, but it is by no means certain that he is capable of carrying out such a retreat without suffering overwhelming disaster.. In any case whatever hopes he has of gaining a partial and temporary respite on the West front during the winter are made of little avail by the course of events in South-Eastern Europe. The significance and effect of Bulgaria's unconditional surrender are far from being measured by her own importance as a military factor.- Similar action by Turkey will no doubt follow speedily, but the great fact meantime is thatas a result of Bulgaria's submission the Balkan corridor is opened to tho Allies. Not only is the ■ German dream of Middle European hegemony dissipated, but Middlo Europe is laid open to,an attack which there arc no visible prospects of repelling. There is. every likelihood that the Allies will be able in the near future to advance in strong force to an invasion of Aus-tria-Hungary by way of the Balkans. It seems enually certain that the Dual Monarchy, as an English I commentator remarked in one of yesterday's messages, is not propared morally or materially to defend a new front extending the whole length of the northern and .western frontiers of Serbia. Even a homogeneous and united nation menaced in this fashion would stand in deadly peril. AustriaHungary Iwing what she is there is little doubt that the opening of the Balkan corridor spells her doom. She is in the condition tersely described not long ago by a Czech deputy:

Austria is no Stato at all, but n bad century-old dream—a niglitmaro and nothing else. It is a State without patriots

and without patriotism, which came into being by tho piecing together of eight unredeemed countries, Germany included. It is a monstrosity. We no longer expect in this miserable. State, which is called Austria, Unit tho righteous Ciiuso of tho much-insulted Czech people will ever be del'ended. Only niter the death of two-thirds of the population of this State will there be no two-thirds majority against the Government. The men still at the head of affairs in the Dual Monarchy would no doubt elect if they had their way to share Germany's fortunes to the end, but it can hardly bo doubted that an Allied invas'ionjvill speedily set a period to their power if that event is not anticipated, as it may be, by an internal upheaval. More than three years ago it was said by a German that Austriaflunga'ry was a corpse hanging round Germany's neck, but tho full force of the observation is only now apparent. !