The Dominion. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1918. GERMANY'S PEACE MANOEUVRES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 11, 8 October 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1918. GERMANY'S PEACE MANOEUVRES

The Kaiser's declaration of his 1 decision "to offer iwace to the Allies on liberal terms" is a confession to the world that Germany is Beaten. This docs not mean that the war is over or that the enemy's power of resistance has been annihilated; but it does mean that the plight of the Central Powers is so desperate that disaster stares them in the face unless they can divide the Allies or tempt them from the straight way to victory. The inexorable logic of events has compelled the Kaiser to realise that truculent heroics will ncithor hearten his subjects nor Erifihten his foes. Ho has ceased to talk about battering in the doors of his foes with his mailed fist and shining sword. His mood has changed, but smooth words of conciliation do not fall trippingly from his arrogant tongue. Even if wo could accept the latest German peace programme as an honest offer, we certainly cannot bring it into conformity with the clearly expressed war aims of the, Allies. It is something to have a plain declaration from Germany that Belgium is entitled to restoration and indemnities. This act of reparation must be complete, unconditional, and unqualified. The programme states that existing treaties must not be an obstacle to peace in the Baltic provinces and Poland; but the Allies have laid it down that the Powers must evacuate all Kussifih territory. On this point there can be no compromise. Gormany's proposals regarding Alsace-Lorraine are interesting aa an admission Chat her brutal grip on these French provinces must be partially relinquished. This must have been a bitter pill for the Kaiser and the Potsdam gang to swallow. But here again half-nieasures cannot be accepted. It is almost impossible to imagine that the Allies will budge an inch from the unmistakable declaration of President Wilson that "all French territory should bo freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted." It is not necessary to consider the other proposals in detail. Trfey are too vague and ambiguous to provide a rational basis for useful discussion at the present stage. Some of them read more like traps than genuine offers.

Prince Maximilian seems overanxious to keep the Kaisek and the militarist clique in the background. He assures the world that he speaks in the name of the German people. "He doth protest too much." Who made him Chancellor 1 The Kaiser, not the German people. Ho ie the puppet'of the Kaisee and the Generals. Ho occupies his present position simply because it suits their purpose to put up a man of his type to parley with the Allies. , If; is very-important that before the Allies consent to hold conversations with the enomy_ they should know exactly the position and authority of the persons with whom they will have to speak. President Wilson, in his address to Congress in January last, said it is necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings" with Germany that "we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Eeichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination." At the present moment the German Government wants to make a favourable impression on America, and so Prince Maximilian gives the assurance that he joins his support tothe programme of the majority parties; but the. fact remains that he owes his position to the will of the military party. He can only speak the words the Kaisee and the Junkers may sqo fit to put into his mouth. Are the Allies jroing to negotiate, directly or_ indirectly, with the Prussian militarists when they have asserted most emphatically that one of the most essential preliminaries to the establishment of a just and stable peace is the overthrow of Prussian militarism? It may safely be taken for granted that the Allied Governments realise t the necessity of walking very warily just now, lest they fall into some pit that the- enemy has dug for them.

Prince Maximilian has directed his peace appeal principally to the United States. He asks President Wilson to accept* a compromise peace rather than peace through victory. How does this request fit. in with the President's statements of America's war aims, , ? In his speech at the grave of Washington in July last the President said: "There can be byt one issue. The settlement must be final. There can be no compromise. No halfway decision would bo tolerable. No halfway decision would be concoivablc." Germany is now deliberately tempting the Allies to agree to a halfway decision—to accept a compromise. Prussianism is now trying to bargain'for its. life-; but the Allies have already made it abundantly clear that they will refuse to haggle with it. Mr. Lansing, the American Secretary of State, has asserted in the plainest terms that Prussianism must be destroyed. "Prussianism," he says, "has appealed to the sword, and fay the sword Prussianism must fall. It is the divine law of retribution which we, as the instruments of justice, must enforce so that the world may be for ever rid of this abomination." Tho proposals made by Prince Maximilian cannot be brought within measurable distance of any terms of peace which the Allies could think of accepting. A peace based on his programme would bo a German peace, and would mean a victory for tho enemy. It would only bo a .postponement of the final struggle. Mu. Lansing, like President Wilson, Mb. Lloyd George, and President Poinoahe, sees the necessity of reaching a final and unmistakable decision before the sword is sheathed. He states that "to listen to proposals for a Prussian peace, to compromise with the butchers of individuals and of nations so that they would by agreement gain a benefit from their crimes, would bo

to compound an international felony." If the present bait is not attractive enough to secure the favourable attention of the Allies, it is probable that more tempting offers will follow. Germany will resort to all kinds of diplomatic manoeuvres. But all her temptations must be resisted unwaveringly. She seems to think that she will get a more sympathetic hearing from the United States than from Britain, France, or Italy; but the uncompromising declarations by President Wilson and Me. Lansing of determination to reject all suggestions in favour of a halfway decision give confidence that the Allies will not allow themselves to bediverted from their resolve to fight on until they are able to enforce a settlement in accordance with impartial justice.