The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1913. WAR AIMS AND PURPOSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1913. WAR AIMS AND PURPOSE.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain has the faculty of expressing the thoughts and feelings of the nation in clear and terse language. The more momentous the occasion, the more forcible and convincing his utterances. His statement to the labor leaders on Saturday, reported to fully in yesterday's issue, was one of the most important he has made since the war began. He defines in terms leaving no room for misunderstanding the aims and purpose of the Allies, a duty Die owes to the British nation, which Is asked to make such unprecedented sacrifices in life and material, as much as to our allies and the world at large. H<« tells us that we have arrived at what he describes as "the most critical hour of this terrible conflict," and that be has taken the pains to ascertain the view and attitude af representative men of all sections of thought and opinion in tiie country, as well as of the overseas Dominions. So mis words express the considered thought of the- whole Empire. He showed at the outset that we are not fighting a war of aggression against the German people. That fact is so obvious that the only justification for its reiteration is that it is intended for the benefit of the German people, who 'have been deluded ail along as to the causes of the war. We were forced into the war most reluctantly because of the criminal invasion of the Kingdom 1 of Belgium, in defence of the violated law of the nations and the vindication of solemn treaty obligations. We joined in the struggle to prevent brute force triumphing over public right and international justice. That will be history's verdict. Wo nation was less prepared than we for war. It is a thousand pities we were not so prepared, for then the odds would ftave been too great against Germany, and there would have been no war. For 'the shirking of tiheir duty in this respect, when they knew for at least four years before the outbreak of war Germany's agressive preparations and plans, the nation will in due time call its political leaders to account—the philosophic pacifists of the Asquith, 'Hakkne, Birrell, ifiunciman stamp. But the harm has been done; we are passing through critical times; the wh has to be won, and Sthere is no good purpose to be served by 4weUing.just now on-the past sins of omission of the nation's leaders. Mr. Lloyd George stated that "w«,4id not wiah to

destroy the great position Germany held in the world, but it was rather to turn her from her hopes and schemes of military domination and see her devote ail her strength to great and beneficent tasks in the world." Whether this clear statement will have any ell'ocl on the well-disciplined, military-ridden, deluded populace of Germany remains to be seen. There is the express invitation to them to throw ofl' the incubus that has been responsible for the welter of blood of the past three and a half years and is now responsible for its continuance. We should like to have seen Mr. Llovd George go further, and simply say: "The Hohonzollerns and the military clique are chiefly to blame for the. present woe of the world. Dismiss them absolutely and take the control of the affairs of Germany into your own hands, and we will discuss terms of peace with you forthwith." This is practically what, President Wilson laid down as a conditio! precedent to the discussion of peace. If we are so supremely foolish as to discuss peace with the men at present at Germany's helm, and with the immense advantages still in their hands, these leaders will have justified tihcmselves before the German people, for they will have gained by force what they promised to gain by it—an immense expansion of German power, an immense enlargement of German industrial and commercial opportunities. Their prestige will be secure, and, with their prestige, their political power. If they fail, their people may then awaken to realities and thrust them aside. A Government accountable to the people themselves would be sift up in Germany, as it has been in Britain, in France, in the United States, and in all ISie great countries ot modern times except Germany. As President Wilson pointed out just after America entered the war, if the leaders are safe, Germany and the world are undone; if they fail, Germany is saved, and the world will be at peace. If they succeed, it may he added, the rest of the world must remain armed, as they will remain, and must make ready for the next step in Germany's aggression. If they fail, the world will unite for peace on a permanent basis. Mr. Lloyd George raferred to reparation and restitution expected of the enemy before peace can come. The call for these is written in letters of blood over Belgium, over some of the fairest provinces of France, over Serbia, over Poland and western Russia, over Houinania, over Armenia and other huge tracts of Asia, and over every sea and i ocean in the world. "No human effort," as has been said"by a gifted writer, "can ever wholly make good the evils done, but even to make superficial amends will tax the powers of the enemy so greatly that they are only too likely to cry out that we ara exacting terms of vengeance." The agony of the' world has carried us long past any such superficial remedy as vengeance, but in determining the action taken in order to obtain security for the future, it is clear that certain principles must be adhered to. We must take care that the peace will contain no seeds for future wars, Which shall store up disaster as did the peace of Frankfort when it sanctioned tearing from France the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine As Mr. Lloyd George says, "the settlement of the new Europe must be based on such grounds of reason and justice as will give some promise of | stability." He again stated Britain's determination to stand by France to the death on the demand the latter makes for the reconsideration of the great wrong of IS7I, when the two provinces were torn from France and incorporated in the German Empire. Germany must be forced to give up these provinces, as well as other conquered territories in her possession. Mr. Lloyd George's references to Russia were somewhat guarded though he did not forget to expose Germany's real purpose, despite all her fair words, regarding the provinces now in her possession. "These," he said, "were in reality part of the dominions of Prussia, ruled by the Prussian sword in the interests of Prussian autocracy, whilst the rest of Russia will be partly enticed by specious phrases and partly bullied by the threat of continued war against an impotent army, iiito a condition of complete economic and ultimate political enslavement to Germany." As the Prime Minister concluded, Russia can only be saved by her own people, and the prospects of the Russians uniting and successfully resisting the enemy are not at the moment very bright. Without action on their part, they are doomed as a nation, and Germany will, even if she is forced to give up all the other conquered countries, and make reparation and restitution to the several peoples, be a considerable winner.