TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1917. THE ALLIED WAR AIMS.

Taihape Daily Times, 8 January 1918, Page 4

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1917. THE ALLIED WAR AIMS.

(With which is incorporated The T*ihapo Post and Walmarino Nows).

The chief topic in the civilised world to-day. is the' speech made by Mr. Lloj r d George to British trade union delegates on the occasion of their meeting to consider the question of man-power. The speech was a plain, : definite, detailed (as far as possible), • statement of the war aims of Britain and her.-, Allies;"" In : this it may be •regarded as truly' historic. On many and. various 'occasions Britain's war aims have been stated without there being any Allied' official backng, and what Mr. Lfoyd' George has now said does not disclose anything new, but its importance lies in the speaker being the mouthpiece of all the Allies as well as of the whole British Empire, and in its clearness of what are the Allied aims in prosecuting the war. Mr Lloyd George has told our enemies in plain, eold British language what the Allied irreducible minimum is, and left it to Kaiser and Company to cogitate over. It must be remembered"that Germany, although frequently pressing to knew what, the, Allied war aims are, has never disposed, other than by her actions what the, Central Powers commenced the .war .to achieve. From its repetition of what, has time and again been voiced by various British statesmen; the speech would be dull and only partially interesting, but for the force of detail and the huge power t that stands by every statement. Never in the history of the world did one man speak for such numbers and such power in money and military force, and after this great war it may never fall to any one man's lot again. Germany has taunted the Allies with abstaining from stating their definite war aims, because she never believed for one moment that her insincere requests would bring forth a full reply. Germany gave the Allies credit for j similar sinister, subtle motives of conquest and power-lust that prompted her to attempt to enslave the world, and her War Lords are dumbfounded with the frank, unequivocal forceful, ' determined statement behind which lies the last man and the last shilling of Britain, America, France and Italy, while Japan states that she would not make a separate peace however magnanimous the terms Germany, was prepared to offer. Then Lloyd George's utterance becomes a cold-steel statement of the entire Allied case from j which there can be so abatement; it ' presents the last concession the Allies will make, behind it is an implacable j determination and an unswerving purpose to attain. Germany is no longer i left in faintest doubt about what tho Allies arc fighting for, and they know j that behind the words is tho power that gives them almost superhuman potency. Upon Berlin's reply hangs ; many thousands of lives; it will decide whether it is peace or war. The Allied irreducible minimum is known to Germany, will settlement follow, or must the condition of war continue? If Germany is of opinion that Bussia i can be manipulated and her resources I used to aid Germany, Berlin will decide for war, not with any hope of i final victory but to secure some amelioration of terms. The Allied war aims now officially expressed are not a something that can be tampered with, twisted about and altered without danger to Allied prestige. The Allied I Supremo Court has adjudicated upon the case and its verdict was given after fullest co-operation, and after ! ; consideration of all the facts; to de- | fleet from that verdict to ever so 3

small a degree would render the whole unsound and highly questionable. Geri many has either to fall in with these j aims and intimate her willingness to accept peace on the terms they express or the war is to continue until they arc enforcable, There need be I no misapprehension in any mind about I Allied war aims, they are unalterable. We need havo neither false hopes or [fears about any departure therefrom. Behind it all there is revealed the ab- ! solute confidence of the Allies to secure, final justice for all and every nation, large and small, neutral and belligerent, enemy and ally. No indemnities or annexations are part of the Alied aims, but Germany must concede the right to every people to selfgovernment, and she must give reparation as rfar *s possible to the peoples of the countries so ruthlessly and wickedly destroyed. Mr. Lloyd George's reference to Russia is pathetic; he realises that the makings of a great democracy is being enslaved and destroyed by Prussianism. A great part of Russia is already under the sway of Prussian autocracy, and the remainder, he says, will be partly-en-ticed by specious phrases, and partly bullied by threates of war. Britain will stand by all democracies, and would be proud to fight side by side with the new democracy of Russia, with America, Prance and Italy, but if Russia's rulers take separate action the Allies havo no means of arresting the catastrophe which will assuredly befall the Russian people and Empire. In-Germany utmost consternation Avill be evident, particularly in the military caste. These Allied war aims following upon an extreme crisis must add largely to German military difficulties. The Kaiser hastily called a Crown Council; the Government has announced that the Reichstag is to make weighty and fateful decisions, and with it all comes a Russian offical message stating that twentythousand German soldiers refuse to be sent from the eastern to the western front; that they are entrenched with Titles and machine-guns, and that the German authorities are trying to starve them out. Despite the crisis in Germany, and the revolt of soldiers the military creation of half-a-century will die hard; so long as Germany's war lords think they can control the people and stave -off revolution they will fight. Whether peace 4s- accepted now: on Allied terms or whether war continues till Germany is beaten, the death of Prussian militarism is certain. The military' caste know this and they will neglect' no move or means to continue to fight, in the hope that''some avenue .of escape may bo opened up. .... . ~