The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1917. THE TRUTH MUST PREVAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1917. THE TRUTH MUST PREVAIL.

The manner in which the Central Powers have received the Allies reply to the German pi-ace feeler plainly indicates that when faced with the irrefutable statement-; as to the cause and conduct of the ivar they had to adopt one oi two cciirses Either they must accept tie only true version of the (acts and stand convicted of \v::iully false statements, ai we'.i as ruthless, tyrannical and reckless conduct, or they must brazen out the position which they would have the world believe has made them victims of the foulest p!ot on the part ot the Entente Powers. The Allies Note was, under tin; circumstances, studiously moderate, while joplete with truths thaf forcefully proclaim )lip,.i»stncsß of their cause, emphasising the deliberately premediated design of the Central Powers to dominate Europe as a.lstop to world conquest. This reply of the Allies has been rightly designated a diplomatic triumph and it should firmly ;onvin'ce all ncutrals as to Germany's evil intentions, and the debt of obligation they owa U the Entente for championing the cause of the smaller nations. A few days ago

we published a cable from an America;' source in which it was stated that tlv. fact that the Allies' terms contain noth

ing for C3ro.it Britain lias caused th«' deepest impression that the British an; lighting for the benefit of humanity tin-.l civilisation. Their unprecedented unselfishness destroys Count Bernstorff's attempts to persuade America that the British have been using the Allies as a cntspaw. This by no means covers the gioiind, although the argument used is reliable up to a certain point. The true position is that Britain, in tak'ii," part in the war, was actuated' by her usual unselfishness and noble prii» eiple which has gained for her the titic of the friend of the oppressed. Titers was never a thought of aggrandisement or the acquisition of territory, and what,.,o. German possessions she may reiai". will be only held to prevent any futurv menace to the British Dominions an.: overseas colonies. is absoluUiy nothing in the Allies' reply to President Wilson's Note beyond a clear and true I statement, of the position as regards the responsibility for the war, a survey ot the enemy's methods of warfare and a concise summarj of tha conditions on which alone peace is possible. The restoration of Belgium, Serbia and Moiltenegto, of course, takes the first place in the demands, and thte evacuation ot the invaded districts of France, Russia and Ronmania fallows as a matter ot course. Reparation and compensation are required, and guarantees of the rights of small nations. The restoration of Alsace and Lorraine is indicateil in the paragraphs insisting on the liberation ies formerly torn from the Allies." An extensive readjustment of Austro-Huu-garian boundaries is next demanded in the paragraph insisting on the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Roumanians, Czechs and .Slovaks from foreign domination The southern Trentino, the region of Trieste, the Dalmatian coast, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Transylvania, Galicia i'.nd Bohemia are all involved in this comprehensive peace condition. There is. points out a southern contemporary, obIviously here the key to the Allied mcthe.l of handling the Teutonic menace. The general effect of the adjustments slated in the Allied terms would be to weaken Austria and Hungary in man po-cr. to create at least one independent State p;epared to resist German and Austrian regression, to deprive Austria of her

r.f>val bases on the Adriatic, and to give Serbia, Montenegro and ]?oumania larger territories and an increased rapacity of self-defoiice. From the first day of Mr; war the Allies have insisted 011 the recognitor,l: of the rights of the stria Hov nations. The Allies have asked no more than their early declarations required, and certainly no more than the future security of Europe demands. In their plain statement of facts they have conv'eted the Germans of a tissue of false statements, exposed the hist, of ITitn coilquest and presented these barbirians in a true picture of frightfulness, cruelty nr.d anogance It is the truth that hurts, hence from the Kaiser to his hirel'ng press there is arising a howl o? malediction oil the Allies, and the reiteration of deadly hale. Not only will the truth prevail, but the Allies will not swerve from the great task they have undertaken, and their confidence in the final result is justified by the knowledge that they entered into the struggle with clean hands and will emerge from it with honor. The ravings o," grievously disappointed and thwarted Huns are but akin to stage thunder am! as such have .no terror for the participators of the terrible war drama tlipt must be enacted until the final descent of the curtain.