The Daily News. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1915. A PREMATURE PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1915. A PREMATURE PEACE.

Mr. Garvin, the editor of the Observer, is one of the best informed and most capable London journalists, am! his statement, appearing in the cablos, regarding the danger of a premature peace, negotiations in connection with which, lu. tells us, are stealthily on foot, deserves serious consideration. Ormany, he says, know* that tiie forces of the

Allies must rise, and is unwilling to wait for her own inevitable ebb. There is good ground for this belief. Germany staked all on mi early decision, She had prepared for it for forty years, and selected her own time and her own methods, regardless of flu- laws of nations, man. anil Oil. She was in no position to wage a war of exhaustion, nor was her ally. Austria. They calculated—and, it must be confessed, they had good grounds for their calculation — that early victory was certain, and with it subjugation of Europe practically, and their own enrichment bv obtaining .-■Jii new provinces from France and Russia, and vast colonies overseas, compelling her victims to pay huge indemnities and probably perpetual tribute. It was a

bold and comprehensive plan, and it went near to fulfilment. Indeed ,it would have succeeded but for Britain's intervention, which at once destroyed her hopes on the sea and had not a little to do with her reverses at the Marne and Ypres, giving our 'French allies time te strengthen and consolidate their forces and hold the German hordes until Kitchener was able to create hia huge armies, which have given a taste of their metal and shown they are a match, and more than a match, for the drilled Gorman conscript. On the Russian front the Germans' advance lias had the effect of bleeding them terribly. Their territorial gains cannot compensate them for their huge losses. Xow it seems they will be compelled to live the winter in snow-clad swampy wastes, with the Russians hammering them all the time. It is a dreary, hopeless prospect, and one can quite understand the feelers being put forth by German emissaries in fav.or ot peace. But there can be no peace 01. the terms desired by the Germans, who by their actions have shown themselves to he a nation of murderers. They cannot go unpunished; their actions cannot be condoned even by restitution. They must be absolutely crushed, so that they can never again menace or disturb the world's peace and take advantage of the peacefulness and trustfulness of their neighbors. To arrange terms of peace now would be but to give the. Arch Criminals, only in greater force than ever, another opportunity to wage war on their neighbors. The Allies have a great and sacred duty to perform, and it is to vindicate the moral law that might is not right, and the international law

that the integrity of small nations must be preserved from aggressive and ruthless big Powers. The Allies have to ensure security of life for the future, and this can only be done by punishing Germany in such a way that she will never forget it. Germany knows the game is up. She cannot wage a war of exhaustion. The Allies have the resources of the rest of the world at their disposal, and grievous as the burden is, they will be able to hold out till th* end. Those who have any real knowledge of history will find a very significant parallel between the present situation and the position in America during the gigantic struggle of the Civil War between the North and the South. The armies of the South won victory after victory. But in the end all those victories merely left the Southern armies hopelessly exhausted in the face of overwhelming Northern forces. The opportunity of Germany would be to detach either Russia or France and conclude a separate peace, bilt all the 'Allies, Japan included, ha\e agreed to the London decision not to conclude peace separate')', and so German intrjgue will not prevail. The doom of Germany is sealed, though for the Allies the way may be long and difficjiilt, the cost prodigious, and toe losses in life incalculable. There is a danger, as Mr. Garvin points out, that terms of peace may be seized upon, but the danger is not from France or Russia. The danger lies in England, where the pcace-at-any-price party are always in evidence and may be able to exert some influence. It is the same element that is responsible for the war because of their opposition to universal training, which would have given Britain an army or. a Continental scale that would have prevented Germany from taking the step that has plunged Europe into bloodshed, and possible bankruptcy. This party, with its newspapers, really have served as most precious tools of Germany, but after this awful object-lesson, the public of Britain should surely know what value to ■ place upon their ideas and opinions and thrust them aside, and do their duty to Europe, the world at large, and to posterity.