The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1918. GERMANY'S PEACE WRIGGLE.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 October 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1918. GERMANY'S PEACE WRIGGLE.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Poet and Walnmrl'io News).

.g, The time Tor discussing who can and who will win the war has gone by and yet the soul consumed by pessimism stil finds much to wail about and. shed its dolorous tears over. While the German armies are in tnu final stages of their rout, capture or destruction, jthe Allied world, minus its pessimists ; are increasingly jubilant, ' looking forward to the day, not far distant, when Allied soldiers will march through the streets of Berlin on the occasion of formal measures being completed which may end war for ever. This last scene in the war is now so assured and so near that it becomes a duty to consider and contemplate it. No one knows now what a day may bring forth, and it is very probable the day for which millions are striving may yet be unattainable for some months. Germany is unquestionably beaten in the war beyond any recovery; the day of Allied doubt is weirin the past, but German psychology has little in common wltn that of other -civilised peoples; Germans think that by continuing acts of submarine diabolism that shock the world, the peoples of the world will up with their hands and lustily shout "Kamefad" in the way that German.* do. They have not yet lost the old fallacious ideas about frightening the Allies_into defeat and into accepting a peace that will leave a way to war for Germans : to take in the near future. Therefore, it is unwise and indiscreet, to assume that Germans will end the war so long as any means or applying their arguments of diabolism are still left to them. The best argument to' use against Germany is that which their own consciousness, or mental philosophy prompts them to use against the Allies,- anything that produces fear and dread In the Teutonic mind fs considered the right thing to put into practice against Germany's enemies, an« the . more inhumanly diabolical it i* ■the Jbetter,. All. that the,. Allies neeci dOj; however, is to allow Foch to. finish his battle. Foch is applying a force that will accomplish more towards final peace than' all the frightfulness that Germans can invent. The end of the war and the signs of peace are now displayed in such bold relief wherever war is waged that even he who runs may read. Turkey and Austria would have followed in Bulgaria's unconditional surrender steps but for the acts of frightfulness Germany is yet empowered to practice upon them. Turkey is fought to a standstill and the great, old, historic realm of the Hapsburgs is in course of rapid disintegration; of being cleft into numerous independent States, and tnc Austrian Emperor is powerless to prevent it. All Germany's allies are mili tarily dead, they can furnish nothing towards helping en "the German cause, and Germany realises to the full that her persistence in blood-lust and slavery has turned the last man in the world against her. Can the Germans in France avoid the military debacle which has already commenced, ants which now dominates the whole peace situation? It is said that Foch's strategy overshadows all diplomatic events; it is certain that the Allies will not pause until the present military phase is completed, and Foch's great strokes aro far from finished. His plans include other heavy blows which work in with his enveloping scheme; a sublime gigantic strategy with its minor enveloping movements within major movements, small pincers within great pincers, which are impressing even the German military authorities; and these militarists m their fear of the certain result have put their politicals to work to engineer a peace. Militarists are accepting a place in the shade and a dummy Government of politicals has been erected to fly the peace flag, but before Foch's battle is finished the peace flag i s to be visible on the spike of every German helmet, right down to the men who are now a chaotic mob struggling along Frencs highways in their endeavour to save themselves from their pursuers. The acceptance of President Wilsos*--terms is an effort to wriggle from under defeat, but that stage when deliß-

erations could have been possible with Germany is now in the distant past; the details of peace must now be a ' matter of dictation, not deliberation, and by the time Foch has finished hia battle the German mind will have grown sufficieatly receptive .of facts as they then stand to compel them to accept the inevitable. At present the assumed naiveness of German newspapers makes German insincerity about peace undeniable, as Mr. Ba»four stated, the Germans have professed a change of constitution but were unchanged in heart; they were brutes when they commnced the war and still remain brutes. Peace coming soner or later, will be accelerated or delayed by the attitude of President "Wilson, and the success of Foch's grandly sublime strategy. Everywhere in France and Belgium the enemy is retreating; the Crown Prince's army is cut off from escape; von Marwitz's ar>my is in pell-mell flight, struggling to get clear of British pursuers; roads are blocked, disorder anw confusion reign. The retreaters have' in them the spirit of defeat; peace offers have thrown them off their mental balance and demoralisation is everywhere. It appears as though the time has arrived for a British thrus* towards Valenciennes, on to Mods and Liege, which would cut off the retreat of Germans east of Cambrai as well as of those in Belgium. Germans in Belgium have scented danger and they are retreating from the Be*gian coast, going towards home, destroying as they go. It is a military impossibility for the enemy to rally in the midst of such a battle, and the ultimate utter defeat must be as comprehensive and as thorough as that of the Allied strategy and forcefulness is In compelling it. Peace in accordance with Allied aims is assured, it may eventuate in weeks or it may be offered for months; it is in sight.