MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1918, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY BRITISH PREMIER. MOST CRITICAL HOUR OF THE WAR. CHARACTER AND PURPOSE OF WAR AIMS. Au3. and N.Z. Cable Assoc. anil Reuter. Received Jan. 7, 1.55 a.m. London, lan. 5. Mr. Lloyd George made an important statement to-da.v, on behalf of the Government, on the war aims, before the trades unions' delegates at Wefitroinstei. who are at present considering the question of man-power.

The Prime Minister began by saying that when the Government invited organised labor 1o further as(ist to maintain the Strength of the armies in the field, its representatives were entitled to ask that any misgivings regarding the purpose wherefor this precious strength was to be applied should be definitely clear. This was also true of all the citizens of the country. When millions were heing called upon to suffer and die, and vast populations were subjected to sufferings and privations unprecedented in history, they were, entitled to know the causes wherefor they were making sacrifices. Only the clearest and greatest justice of the causes could justify the continuance, even for one day, of this unspeakable agony of the nations. "We have arrived," said Mr, Lloyd George, "at the most critical hour of I his terrible conflict, and bet ore any 'Government makes any fateful decision regarding the conditions whereunder it ought either to terminate or continue the struggle, it ought to satisfy the conscience of the nation." Therefore, during the last few days he had taken special pains to ascertain the view and attitude nt representative men of all sections of thought and opinion in the country. He l«d perused in detail, with labor leaders, the meaning and intention of that declaration and had also discussed the same momentous question with Mr. Asquith, Viscount Grey, and the representatives of the great. Dominions overseas. The result of these discussions was a mutual agreement as regards the character and purpose of the war aims and pence conditions, and in what he was about to say he was speaking not merely the mind of the Government, but of the nation and the Empire as a whole. He would commence by stating what we were not lighting for. NOT A WAR OF AGGRESSION. We were not fighting a war of aggression against the German people. The destruction or disruption of Germany or of the German people had never been one of our war aims. Most reluctantly, and quite unprepared for the dreadful ordeal, wo were forced into the war ill self defence and in defence of the violated publie law of Europe, also in vindication of the most solemn treaty obligations, whereon the public system of Europe rested, and whereon Germany ruthlessly trampled in the invasion of Belgium. A FIGHT AGAINST BiRUTE FORCE. We had to join in the struggle or see brute force triumph over public right and international justice. Only the realisation of the dreadful alternative forced Britain into the war. From that original attitude Britain had never swerved. DESTRUCTION OF ENEMIES NOT DESIRED. It was not our wish to destroy, nor was it a question of destroying the great position that Germany 'held in the world, but it was rather to turn her from her hopes and schemes of military domination and see her devote all her strength to great and beneficent tasks in the world. We were not fighting to destroy Aus-tria-Hungary or to deprive Turkey of Constantinople or the rjch, renowned" lands of Asia Minor and Thrace, which were predominantly Turkish racially; nor did we war merely to alter or destroy the Imperial Constitution of Germany, much as we consider that military autocratic constitution dangerous and am anachronism in the 20th century. A DEMOCRATIC GERMANY DESIRABLE. Our viewpoint is that the adoption of a really democratic constitution by Germany would be the most convincing evidence that her old spirit of military domination had died. This would make it much easier to conclude a broad democratic peace with her, but that'is a question for the German people to decide. SILENCE OF CENTRAL POWERS. Despite the many adjurations from opponents and neutrals, the Central Empires maintain complete silenoe as to the objects wherefor they are fighting. They have uniformly declined to give any trustworthy information, even upon so crucial a matter as their intentions regarding Belgium. The only clear thing in the vague reports of the recent enemy peace conditions was that under no circumstances would the German demand for the restitution of her colonies be given up. All principles of self-determin- * i" a t ion here vanish into thin air. Mere hp service to the formula of no annexa-i tions, indemnities or right of self-deter-mination was useless. DAYS OF CHICANERY PAST. an y negotiations can-be begun, Mw Geiitrel'Eowers must realise,the at-

sentinl facts of the situation, that the days of the Treaty of Vienna are long past. We cannot longer submit the future of European civilisation to the arbitrary decisions of a few negotiators, striving to secure by chicanery or persuasion an interest m this or that. d\-n----iisty or nation. The settlement of the new Europe must be based on such grounds of reason and justice as will give ooine promise of stability. Therefore we feci that government with the' consent of the governed must be the basis of any territorial settlement after the war. RESTORATION AND REPARATION FOR BELGIUM. Unless every nation is prepared, at whatever sacrifices, to honor its national nigu.iture, it is obvious that no peace treaty is worth the paper whereon it is written; therefore, the first requirement of Lritain and her allies is the complete restoration pf the political, territorial, and economic independence of Belgium, and such reparation as can be made for the devastation of its towns and provinces. This is not a demand for a war indemnity like that imposed in 1871; not an attempt to shift the cost of the warlike operation from one belligerent to another, which may or may not be defensible. It is no more and no less than an insistence that, before there can be any hope of a stable peace, this great breach of the public law of Europe must be repudiated and as far as possible repait ed. Reparation means recognition. Unless international right is recognised fev an insistence on payment for injury done in defiance of its canons, it call never be a reality. REPARATION FOR INJUSTICE DONE. Next comes the restoration of Serbia, Montenegro, and the occupied parts of France, Italy, and Roumania, and a complete withdrawal of the alien armies. Reparation for any injustice done is the fundamental condition of permanent peace. We mean to stand by the French democracy to the death on the demand that they make for the reconsideration of the great wrong of IS7I, when, without any regard to the wishes of the population, two French provinces were torn from France and incorporated in the German Empire. This sore poisoned the peace of Europe for half a century, and, until it is cured, healthy conditions cannot be restored. There be no better illustration of the folly and wickerness of using transient military success to violate national right. RUSSIA'S PLIGHT. 'T will not attempt to deal with the question of Russian territories under German occupation. The Russian policy since the revolution has paßsed through so many phases that it is difficult to speak without some suspension of judgment as regards what the situation will be when the final European jwace terms are discussed. Russia accepted war because, true to her traditional.guardianship of the weaker communities of her race, sho stepped in to protect Serbia from the plot against her independence. France, true to the treaty conditions, stood by her ally in a quarrel not her own. Her chivalrous respect for a treaty led to the wanton invasion of Belgium. Treaty obligations of Britain to that little land brought us into the war. "The present rulers of Russia are now engaged, without any reference to the countries whom Russia brought into the war, in separate negotiations with the common enemy. I ara indulging in no reproached, 'tut am merely stating facts, with a viow to making clear.wfcy-Britain cannot be 'held accountable for decisions taken in her absence, and concerning which she was not-consulted or her aid* invoked. ' GERMAN DESIGNS ON RUSSIA. "No one who knows Prussia and her designs upon Russia can for a moment doubt her uHhnat«»infcßution. Whatever" phrases she US63 to,delude Russia, she does not mean to surrender one of) Russia's fair provinces or cities now occupied by her forces, under one name or another, and the name hardly matters. TO BE RUBED BY PRUSSIAN SWORD. ''These provinces henceforth are in reality part of tihe dominion# of Prussia, ruled by the Prussian, sword in the interests of Prussian autocracy. The remainder of the people.iof Russia will be partly enticed by specious jphrases, and partly bullied by>the threat of continued war against an impotent army, into a condition of complete, economic and ultimate political enslavement to Germany. We all deplore the prospect, and the British democracy, mean to stand to the last by the democracies of the other allies.

BRITAIN WELLING BUT POWERLESS TO-'IH-EBP. ■■

"We shall be proud, to fight to the end, side by side with tthe new democracy of Russia. So will.America, Prance, and' Italy. But if the present rulers of Russia take action independent of the (Allies, we have no means of intervening l >to arrest the catastrophe that is assuredly fcef&Uing Russia. She can only be saved by her own people. However, we believe that aiwindependent.Poland, comprising all the»genuinely Polish elements who desire to form a part, is an urgent necessity for the stability of weßtei'n Europe.

A DEMOCRATIC-AUSTRIA-HUNGARY NECESSARY.

"Similarly, though we agree with Presi-

dent misonSfftatfteo Iweak up.AustriaSHungaryiis no paJt of*our war aims, we' feel that unless «a geaawe teriy, democratic self f government is granted-" those) .Außtro-Hwugariaii' nationalities who have (longj-desiMd-it, it vaH'tefimpoesiblo to ireBKW* < fl» caufwoftuareattin-that put

of Europe which have so long threatened the ge.ii'jral peace. LEGITIMATE CLAIMS OF ITALY AXD 1101 '.MANIA. "Oil the same ground v,c regard :is vital the satisfaction of the legitimate claims of the Kalians lor the union of their own race and tongue. We also mean to press for justice to the men of Roumanian blood and speech in their legitimate aspirations. "ii these conditions are fullilled AustriaIlmigary would become a Power whose strength would conduce to the permanent' freedom of Europe, instead of being merely an instrument of the pernicious military autocracy of Prussia, that used the resources of its allies in turtiierance of its own sinister purposes. We believe that outside Europe the same principles should be appliod.''