The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1918. THE APPROACH TO PEACE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 71, 18 December 1918, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1918. THE APPROACH TO PEACE

Theee is increasing evidence that the Allied nations will be able to show the same spirit of unity at the Peace Conference as brought them victory in the final phase of the military struggle. Obviously they must first agree amongst themselves in regard to all the essential questions raised if they are to dictate such conditions of peace as will satisfy the demands of justice, and, in President Wilson's famous phrase, make the world safe for democracy. Although the sessions of the Peace Conference have not yet formally opened, encouraging evidence is already in sight that the Allies' arc not likely to be.crippled by • divisions and dissentient views when the time comes to deal with Germany and her partners in crime. Practically all recent news on tho subject has .pointed to a growing harmony of opinion in the Allied ranks and to a development of American opinion which is equally ] promising and significant. Some of to-day's cablegrams are especially interesting in this connection. It is stated, for instance, that-at a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Britain, France, and Italy it was decided that the Entente should demand three things at the Peace Conference: the punishment of tho Kaiser and. other evildoers of the Central Powers, an indemnity up to the limit of Germany's capacity to pay,, and the non-return of the German colonies. This does not cover all the ground, but the Powers which have reached agreement on these three' vital questions are nob likely to find serious obstacles to agreement in regard to any other question which will come up for determination at the Peace Conference. President Wilson's later speeches and items of news bearing on the attitude of the United States arc even more noteworthy as suggesting that Germany has nothing to hope for from weakness or dissensions in tho Allied camp. For a time there was, or seemed to be, a danger .that in the final settlement the United States might intervene to modify Germany's punishment and to correspondingly weaken the foundations of future peace. On the evi-

clence now visible this danger is tending rapidly to disappear. In his later utterances President Wilson has laid all possible emphasis upon the enormity of Germany's j crimes and the necessity of inflicting adequate punishment and taking drastic pleasures to prevent their repetition. The speech lie made on arriving in France and his reply to a deputation of French Socialists are alike notable in their insistence upon these essentials of a just and lasting peace. It is probably doing President Wilson no injustice to say that these utterances mark a long step forward even from the position he took up in the closing months of the war. In a speech delivered at New York on September 27, in the course of which he declared the establishment of a League of Nations to be indispensable, he said, in part: — As I see it, the constitution of that League of Nations and the clear definition of its objects, must be a part, in a sense the most essential part, of the peace settlement itself. It cannot be formed now. If formed now it would be merely a new alliance confined to the nations associated (against a coriimon enemy. It is not likely that it could be formed after the settlement. It is necessary to guarantee the peace, and the peace cannot be guaranteed as an after-

thought. At the end of September President Wilson named the establishment of a League of Nations as in a sense the most essential part of the peace settlement. Now, if reports do him no injustice, he sets in the forefront the necessity for action not only to rebuke the deeds of terror and spoliation of which Germany and her vassals have been guilty, but to prevent their recurrence by jiieans of deterrent punishment, 'ialung account of the disclosed policy and intentions of the British and other Allied Governments, and _ of tho trend of discussion in Allied countries, what tho President has had to say during the last dayor two can hardly be read otherwise than as a whole-hearted endorsement of demands for the punishment of German evildoers and for the exaction of a substantial indemnity. Such an endorsement would imply the subordination of the League of Nations proposal to issues demanding earlier consideration—though not, of course, its abandonment— and a distinct advance by the President from his attitude in comparatively recent clays. But there is the less reason to doubt that he has made this advance since he has at all times shown himself amenable to tho pressure of 'American public

opinion when it was once made unmistakably clear, and it is evident that a strong body of opinion in America is impelling him in the direction he is now taking where the issues of peace are concerned. President Wilson is quoted to-day as saying that his task is to speak the thoughts of tho people of the United States and to translate those thoughts into action. Taking this view of his duties he cannot be indifferent to the criticism directed by many of his countrymen, and particularly by the members of the Republican Party, against some of his views on the subject of peace. He must needs be influenced also by tlie result of the recent Congressional elections. He asked the electors of the United States to return Democratic majorities as an indication that they approved his policy. Instead they returned Republican majorities to both Houses of Congress. It is particularly important that the Republicans obtained a majority in the "Senate since under the Constitution of the United States all treaties have to be ratified by that House. It is not suggested that tho election result amounted to a general vote of want of confidence in the President, but it manifestly indicated a want of confidence in some aspects of his policy and a determination on the part of the American people that the practical issues of the peace settlement should not be whittled away. The late appeal to the country and its outcome lend force and meaning to speeches like that in which Senator Poindexteb is quoted to-day as asserting that Mr. Secretary Daniels does not represent public opinion in the United States in saying _ that it ought not to seek indemnities from Germany, and to Mr. Roosevelt's outspoken antagonism to the League of Nations proposal as it has been outlined by the President, and advocacy in preference of a league which, for thj present, should only include the Allies and the United States. It is, in fact, evident that in taking a lino that brings him into close accord with the Allies where tho issues of peace are in question, President Wilson is yielding to a great and growing body of American opinion, and that' this development is of capital importance as tending to bring tho Allies into practically complete harmony cm the eve of dictating and enforcing conditions of peace.