The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1919. THE HOUR OF RECKONING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 185, 1 May 1919, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1919. THE HOUR OF RECKONING

Within a day or two, as news now stands, tho Peace Treaty will be presented to the Germans, and will be published. To a great ex-' tent its contents are still a matter of conjecture, and it is natural that the disclosure about to bo mado should bo awaited with intense interest. No similar document was ever drawn that had as vital a bearing on the future of mankind. If the Treaty embodies, as it should, the conditions of a stern reckoning with a criminal nation, its ratification will bs the first great step towards peace on an enduring foundation. From such a beginning it would be possible to proceed with the organisation and development of a League of Nations in assured confidence that' it will prove worthy of its name. If, on the other hand, it proves that the. Allies for any reason have failed to visit upon Germany a punishment proportionate to , her crimes, not only will a. monstrous wrong bo perpetuated, but all the idealistic talk in the world will not give stability and vitality to the League of Nations. At the Peace Conference and in all Allied countries voices have been raised -against a "vindictive" peace. It has been urged that the essential thing to do now is not to punish Germany, but to establish a new and better international order. If Germany is subjected to harsh terms, the advocates of leniency have contended, she will be reduced to jmpotenco for the time being, but will cherish feelings of bitterness and revenge, and sooner or later will renew her aggression. Such arguments as these betray an astonishing confusion of thought. No one, as far as we know, has ever attempted to. explain in what manner, or by what miracle, the inauguration of an era of justice and peacewwil t be assisted by extending im-' munity for its misdeeds to a basely criminal nation. The real position obviously enough is that the Allied nations must cither inflict exemplary punishment on C4ermany or admit that in tho last great test they are incapable of upholding the moral principles in defence of which, millions of their best and bravest died. This is not rhetoric. Of the multitudes who.died in the Allied ranks not a very large proportion were versed in international ethics. But almost to a man they were filled with the conviction that the' Hun was a beast who would befoul the world if he had his way, and that, at all costs nobler standards must bo upheld. In that conviction they fought and died. Their judgment was sound, and unless it prevails to the end the war will have, boon' fought and.won in vain, • Two facts stand out at this hour when the Allied terms are about to be disclosed. One is that a weakly lenient tieatment of Germany would be the moral equivalent in the international field to dealing in the same fashion with an individual criminal of a particularly atrocious type;, the other, that such weakness, instead of facilitating the establishment of. a League of Nations, would do more than anything else to make its establishment impossible. .Immunity, or even a measure of immunity, would not only stimulate and encourage all that is evil, in Germany only less than they would have been.by the full success of her, schemes of conquest and plunder, but would destroy that regard for justice and morality in which the Allied nations are now united. If the nations associated at tho Peace Conference are incapable of punishing adequately the worst crimes ever committed by a nation, of what use is it to talk about making , such crimes. impossible, in future, much less to attempt the creation of a League of Nations to uphold justice.and safeguard peace? The broad considerations touched upon are heavily emphasised whenaccount is taken of the detail aspects of the situation with which tho Treaty will deal. Much has been said both about the alleged democratisation of Germany ' and about the danger that she may become a prey to Bolshevism. The really material fact to be kept constantly in mind is that.the German people are as far from manifesting even a measure of repentance as in the days when they rejoiced over the sinking of the Lusitania and other infamies- without number. Instead of being repentant, . tho German people -are clamouring and whining for kindly treatment. Their machinery of government is to jonie,extent out of gear, but not so seriously as to prevent their leaders uniting in all sorts of Bchemes and intrigues intended to weaken or deflect tho Allied purpose. It-would baffle those people in Allied countries who are most anxious to deal tenderly witli Germany to show any real break, between the German policy which made the war. and that which is being developed in Germany to-day. The only change is from the active pursuit of crime to a brazen and not less criminal refusal to admit and expiate guilt.. it, is obvious, is asking not merely for immunity, but that her colossal crimes should be rewarded. She ; has wrought inconceivable desola-1 tion in France,_ Belgium, and other countries, and| is directly and absolutely responsible for the nightmare of horror that has descended' in Russia. She herself, as an American writer observed recently, has come out of the war without injury to her own territory or any permanent or lasting'injury to her social and industrial life. "She has her factorios, 'Jier towns, her countryside, her social organisation, intact. One has only ,to compare the devastated regidns of France, where normal life, cannot .-begin again.-for years, with the situation in Germany to sec that." Bcanng such cardinal facts in mind, it is plain enough that the Treaty about to be published will bo a poor guarantee of future peace if it does not oxact pitiless reparation from Germany and subject her to the severest possible control—impose upon her, in fact, such conditions as arc merited by a criminal and unrepentant nation. The right spirit-is shown in the arrangements mado for the reception of the German delegates at Versailles, where they are to be enclosed within barbed wire and treated as the outcasts they arc. The same spirit will find expression in the Treaty if-it is really, capable of serving its intended purpose. .