THE ARMISTICE TERMS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 76, 24 December 1918, Page 5

THE ARMISTICE TERMS

GERMANY'S COMPLAINTS OF HARSHNESS ...

BISMARCK'S "GENTLENESS" RECALLED

In view of the latest German, protest against the terms of the armistice, and tho enemy's reiterated complaint' on the score of their harshness, it may be of interest to recall. Bismarck's method of dealing with tho French peace proposals in 1870. The French delegates were If. Jules Favre and M. Thiers. Favre first met Bismarck at Fcrricres towards tho end of September, 1870. Though France was still tar from the end of her powors of resistance (writes "M.T.F." in the "Morning Post"), tho Chancellor, who received the French envoy in the most haughty manner, opened discussions in no mood for reciprocal concession, but in the spirit rather of a conqueror come to dictate! terms. Thero was to be no disputing with this bullying spokesman of victorious legions, whoso master had resolved, it was already clear, to have a large slice of territory, as well <\s an immense pecuniary indemnity, and to leave France, in case of refusal, no alternative but that of tho.Caudine Forks. He w r as throughout the arrogant exponent of the views of uncompromising Prussian militarists bent upon reducing to impotence a nation they had long described ns-their traditional foe, and. upon the ultimate construction, as is now ap; parent, of-a new Europe 'dominated by Germany.

The. Annee Terrible, Bismarck all along held out'to Favre the threat to starve tho French capital as a settled piece of German policy. Hunger was the weapon on which lip relied. _ Yet during the present, conflict e nation of pirates nnd savages has whined at-the very thought pf being brought, to .book through a stoppage of. its supplies, and has tried to make the neutral-world believe that such action iis new to the practice of war. Parisians of the older however, have not yet forgotten their experience of 1870. •' Whole families, indeed, can still Tecall the miseries of that Annee Terrible. When tlie poor of Paris Were digging from under the snow potatoes that had been left ujithin the range of German' artillery, Bismarck, with Hunnish brutality, ordered his soldiers to shoot the«o famishing people. The capital was'girt by a ring of steel, through which for weeks, during an exceptionally, severe winter, neither a scrap of food nor an ounce of medicine was permitted to pass. As.tho wretchedness of the two million citizen's increased, and the death rate, especially among aged people and young children/became worse, Bismaick was of opinion.that the sufferings of the, inhabitants were: not sufficiently great He suggested that to the pangs of hunger there might be added some « the ■ refinements of torture: ' He said •

If the Parisians first received a supply of provisions and were then again put on half rations and once more obliged ,tp starve that ought/ I y•» work- It is-like flogging. \\ hen it is administered continuous- '■• Jy it is .not felt so much. But when ' ...it is_ suspended for a time and then • another dose inflicted it hurts, t know that from the Criminal Courts where rvras. employed: ■ He regretted .that prisoners should be «?KW„ at K all *"8? that rt ™ Ml posBible to shoot them oil' the spot. "We have, he said, "more than enough of them, while the Parisians, have the ad--7n B f3» #*?* ri l of 60 ma ny mouths to feed. , _ If, he said on another occasion, garrisons, could not.be supplied'for every place within German occupation, we should from time to time send a flying column wherever the people show-..ed-themselves recalcitrant "and shoot hang, and burn." An officer having remarked, that the ;mere apeparance of a detachment of troops entrusted with the task of keeping order would be sufficient, \ be ,.Y, I i M , cell °r replied: "I am not so sure! A. littlejianging wouki certainly have a better effect with % few shells 'thrown in and.,a couple .of .houses .burned down." the foregoing quotations are taken fronr the secret pages"-of the history of ? ls , m ,? r « k .¥' •P, r Busch had. official and.private intercourse with the treat Chancellor" for a quarter of ft century,.which'included the period of the Franco-Prussian War, and, bein» a Bismarck worshipper? he may be trusted not to have set down aught in malice respecting his hero. "The Chancellor," says the faithful Busch, "was guided bv the principle that'the civil population must, suffer..by the war in "order..to render them the more disposed.to peace" ' The haughtiness of Bismarck.'.towards l'ayre was due in no small measure to a. knowledge that Prance was without the support, moral or physical, of any powerful contemporary nation. While the Germans were.' approaching ■ ParisThiers made a tour "of the' Courts of -Luropß in the hope of, securing some sort of mediation by neutrals. But,-while all were sympathetic, none would' inter- ' fere,. an attitude ■ which' 'isolated Prance Of that the Chancellor" took the most merciless advantage and made the peace terms nothing short of an abuse of victory. . .■ ■.■ ■•:.•'.•■

' Kicking the Fallen Foe, Though France, as has been already ob served, was still far from the end of her powci- of resistance when Favre first met the Chancellor the ultimate triumph of Germany was almost every day becoming more certain. Something-, therefore, in the nature of magnanimity or reasonable consideration on the. nart of Bismarck might, it was thought, be expected, success having its obligations as well as its privileges: But there was to be no concessions whatever, the Man of Blood and Iron, the browbeating spokesman of an unchivalroi\s master, remaining towards the French envoy as in exorable'as fate.

The opening meeting of the two diplomats having closed with a statement by the Chancellor that he was going to consult the King oh some of the, points raised. Favre resumed nrocecdings next' day with the remark:."Yon have spoken to the King and I have come to ascertain the result of that interview." •; "The King," responded Bismarck, "accepts an armistice under -the conditions .and_with -the object ngroed, between us. As I told you, we demandl the occunation of all the fortresses besieged in the 'Vos?es and that of Strasbnr", with its garrison as prisoners of war." At these words Favre'could hardlv restrain himself, and interrupted the Chancellor almost impetuously,: "Monsieur le Comte," he said, "I pro--mised to report to my Government all m'v conversation with your Excellency. T'.do not know, however,, that T shall have the courage to convey tn them what you have just told mo. The garrison of Strashurir have evokpd the admiration of the world by their heroism. To surrender the garrison voluntarily as prisoners of war would be an act nf cowardice which no man of sni'-ifc woiild in. present circumstances advise."'' ."I am not nf your opinion," Bismarck brusquely replied, "and my mason is very simple. fitrasbu'-i is exhausted: wo have to make-only a final assault to enn-« fure it. T should very much like to avoid (hat. but if we cannot cmie tn an understanding the nlace will certainly bis fn our hands by Friday nnd/its garrison will be ours." "Certainly, Monsieur ]e Comte," interjected Favre, "is a very risky word to use in war." "Add to it," said flic-Chancellor, "if you will,, 'as far as it can be. .humanly guaranteed.' .Tt is a question of engineering, and, with the reserve I have inilimKl. 1 am sure b" wrong." "Then," observed Favre. "the garrison will succumb to force. For my part I shall never agree to surrender. 1" But let us set that proposition aside and discuss others. What does your Excellency mean by a-guarantee on the part of Paris, of which von spoke yesterday?" "Nothing more simple," answered the' Couni. "a fort dominating the town."

"It would be better," rejoined Fihtc, "to give you the entire city. That would be more to the.point and uioro complete. Hon- eould you expect n French .Assembly to deliberate under Prussian cannon? That is another proposition which I cannot undertake to report to my Government."

The French Minister then- suggested the abandonment of the idea* of the neutralisation of Paris. The .Assembly, hfl remarked, could- be summoned at Tours, where the Government were already located.

"I accept this," stated Bismarck, "and in that case it is (.greed, according to, what was said yesterday, that we shall facilitate with entire impartiality the electoral meetings and elections even in tho departments occupied,' except iu Alsace and in the part of Lorraine which wo hold." ' .'■ .

Knowing that the feeling 'of tl|e populations there were against him, tho Chancellor could not have suggested a better arrangement, from his point of view. "You admit thereby," Favre pointed out, ''that if you consult the inhabitants they -will bo unanimous in .rejecting you." "I know that perfectly/' said the Chancellor. "We shall not please them." But what was proposed was, ho held, necessary for the security of Germany and the success of the war. "We do not," he added, "include them at all"— tho people of .Alsace and part of. Lorraine —"among the electors whom you will consult, since we desire to govern these districts absolutely." "\ Here was a specific declaration of Hun contempt for tho wishes of the people to bo annexed and governed. I'rench national union, which had been slowly and laboriously effected, was to be destroyed. The plea of tho Germans was that Alsace and Lorraine ought to be theirs because at one time they were an integral portion ' of the Hoiy Roman Empire. On the same principle, however—if all modifying historic circumstances and changes nro to bo ignored—ltalians might -with much greater force assert • a .prior claim, based on the fact that the'land in question formed part of the Gaul conquered by Julius Caesar. The-truth is that the territory on the left bank of the Rhine was long ago wrested from France in order to preserve, ns • was thought, the equilibrium of Europe by cheeking the enlargement of France at a timo when she was aggressive as well as strong, and when,,most unfortunately, the. far more unscrupulous aggressiveness of Prussia was not generally recognised. Hunger Bismarck's Weapon. ._ Favre's peace move in September having come to nothing, Thiers in November reopened negotiations which seemed likely to result in an armistice of twenty-five days, Pa/is tof receive food for this period. Bismarck.' at the outset raised no objection to that, but afterwards haughtily refused to agree to revictualling. ' Military successes had evidently rendered it impossible for him to treat on terms of equality with an enemy who was now losing all save the desperate courage of despair. With unconscionable hypocrisy, while professing to the Powers of Europe to be anxious for peace, he had been imposing conditions that made peace impossible. "An armistice to be, fair must involve," as Mr. Gibson Bowles wrote in the "Morning Post" at the time, "tho maintenance of both sides in statu quo, but what the Prussians propose is that they should be left in as good a condition ; as they now are and • that Paris should be deprived of twentyfive days' provisions,' or, in other words, that its starvation point should be brought nearer by twenty-five days. Such a proposal is manifestly inadmissible. ...... As for the' Parisians, they -had better have surrendered at once than have npcepted it." The negotiations of Thiers came to an>'end, Bismarck's unwarrantable refusal to revichial tho capital for the period of an armistice bringing about that-result. But Paris in-Jan-uary, 1871, had through sheer lack of food either to submit or to perish. To make the surrender Favre on the 23rd of,that month went to Versailles, where in.the Hall of Mirrors-five days previously King William had been proclaimed German Emperor.* That marked the first great step of Imperial Germans in their criminal resolve to dominate the world on the; principle that migh? was right. Ot 'that doctrine Bismarck in his peace discussions was the most valiant and arrogant exponent. On February 9, 1871, the "Morning Post" said: The union of Germany points to an'' era of physical force, in which all who desire to hold their own must .be prepared'to meet such force with i something ' more thah moral arguments or diplomatic negotiations. No. warning■' was ever more opportune or more completely justified by events, German historians and philosophers had for- years preached the splendours of .war. .Power was, they held, the real end of the State, and no limits could be set to. the means by which that power might be achieved, a kind of teaching which easily -sanctioned the ignoring of "scraps of paper."

Capitulation of Paris, ■ The'journey of Favre to' Versailles in January was undertaken with the consent of Bismarck, who had stated that he would see him if he came to discuss the question of capitulation and no other. The Chancellor, Moltkc, nnd the French deputy afterwards entered into conference, which resulted in an armistice extending to the middle of the following month. It provided that there should be an immediate surrender to the German Army of all the forts forming the perimeter of the exterior defences of Paris, and permitted the Government of National-Defence to convoke a National Assembly. After the election of that body, which was not in favour of continuing the War, there was really nothing left for Favre and Thiers to do ex. cept agree to the peace preliminaries as dictated by Bismarck. In (lie present war the Allies could riot do better than follow the German* example set in 1871 of first securing complete surrender and then dictating terms. The discussion started in January, 1871, led uj> ,to the payment of an indemnity, of and the annexation of two provinces. But that, vast sum .did not include the extortionate requisitions 'which had throughout the campaign enabled Germany to wage war cheaply, and had been demanded everywhere according to the practices not of a civilised army but of the worst type of brigands.