Hokitika Guardian and Evening Star TUESDAY, JAN. 16 1917 THE PEACE NOTE.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian and Evening Star TUESDAY, JAN. 16 1917 THE PEACE NOTE.

Thb fuller particulars lately published of the Pe&oe Note issued by the Allied Powers were called from the Australian pree*. The reply to the peace proposals submitted through the United Slates is a repetition of statements which hare been made at various times by the Allied.leaders sinoe the beginning of the war, and repeated with greater emphakia and detail during this its third year. The proposals* •ays a Sydney paper, were vitiated by the assumption on which they were made and by the vagueness of the Chancellor’s langnage. The Chancellor assumed that Gat many had at all times been amions for ps ice and in beginning this war was inspired solely by tho need for self defence. His speech was merely an invitation to a conference and contained no definition of the terms which Germany would offer or accept. It has been said many times during the past two years that once the war had begun the question of responsibility became of historical importance, and that Viscount Grey when analysing the documents was concerned mainly for his own reputation as against that of the Chancellor. The language of the reply ■hows how important a oorreot decision may be both in assessing the value of the German proposals and in estimating what guarantees may be needed against her in the future. If Germany considers heraelf the aggressor, or describes herself as such, she is bound at a Peace Conference to ask for concessions, not to make them. She will not part Alsace and Lorraine, since Straaburg and Metz ware taken in order to protect her Rhine frontier. She will cot give up the iron mines appropriated in 1870, since but for them ehe would have been unable to prepare for this war, Oa the oth-r side a Germany, wh oh claims to h&.t been innocent and pacific, would certainly claim to deprive Russia of Poland in order to chortepand strengthen her lino ef do-

fence, oml incidentally to detract from the value of the Erauoa-Ruaaian alliance. The Ohaoofllor is said to have reserved to himself complete freedom of negotiation in a peace conpress, but in all specobes he baa so consistently deolared that these terms are necessary for the safety of the country that he could not at the present time retnrn without risking not only his own position bat the destruction of the present system cf government, The Allies have done well to go behind the negotiations of tragic) twelve daya-whioh are set out in the documents, and to show how the German epirlt of aggression had shown itself throughout the century. By doing so they can beet explain the demeanour which the Frenoh nation has maintained thronghont the war andinfaoe of this offer of peace. The nation had been coneoions for the past forty-five years that a new war might be forced upon them at any moment, All their schemes of social improvement had been oheoked by the growing burden of military preparation, and all their hopes of development had been ruined by the knowledge of an enemy always ready to attack them. The experience of Great Britain and Russia has been similar if on a different scale. Every nation in Europe has felt that at any moment a greedy and nnecrnpnlons neighbor might disturb the peace. The opinion held by many of, if not by all, the statesmen of Europe has been deepened and confirmed by the violation of Belgian neutrality, by the devastation of every country entered by the German armies, and by the breach of all the laws of war. The Allies now know that it is impossible to trust the promises or offers of the German Government unless and until they are accompanied by some guarantee which makes treachery impossible,