The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1918. THE KEYS OF THE WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1918. THE KEYS OF THE WORLD.

Two recent cables from Amsterdam, giving extracts from the German paper, the Kreuz Zeitung, throw a clear light on Germany's reason for a peace offensive. A claim put forward is that Germany's colonies must be restored, and guarantees given that the future development of Germany's world and political position will be secure against British obstructions. Then we are told that the war cannot end by settling territorial difficulties, but if England assures the freedom of the seas by reducing her Navv, and dismantling Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, and Singapore, and internationalises these harbors, Germany would not need the Flanders coast and would surrender Belgium. The writer of those remarkable statements must have been imbued with the peeulier attributes of Bret Harte's " Heathen Chinee." In substance this peace offer means that if Germany is given all she wants she will cease to fight. Britain is to become impotent and deliver up the keys of the world to the Kaiser, who, in return is to surrender Belgium, because it would no longer be of service to the All Highest, and included in the bargain is the restoration of Germany's colonies, together with a guarantee that the future development of Germany's world and political position will be secure against British obstructions. It wwild be difficult >o discover e

parellel to tliis sublime impudence, though it is quite on a par with other extrayagant claims from the same source. A liberal interpretation of these demands would place Britain in the position of the jackall acting as piovider for the Teutonic lion. T are tOr give Germany all she wants now, and place her in a position to take as much more as she desires hereafter, while all that Germany concedes is the Flanders coast and Belgium. How magnanimous! No suggestion of reparation, the termination of hostilities evidently being deemed as amply sufficient for the Allies, whose interest in the world's affairs would thereafter cease, because there must be no obstruction of Germany's future development. We are to get peace at the price of handing over the keys of the world to Germany and for ever thereafter submit to her domination. It will be noted there is no mention of Germany reducing her naval and military forces, dismantling her fortifications, abstaining from creating naval bases in every part of the globe. She is to be free to do as she likes, but Britain must do as she is told. It requires no graphic pen-picture to depict what would happen under such circumstances. The world has at last awakened to the danger that is threatening it. It now knows for what it is fighting, and has decided that it will not take Prussian militarism lying down" The Allies are fighting for the security of the world's democracies, while the Central Powers are staking their all to gratify thg mad ambition of the Kaiser. The issue is perfectly plain. A peace on such lines as those put forward by the Kreuz Zeitung would be a veritable Prussian triumph, and, as Mr. Lloyd George truly said, it would be " a sorry world for the rest of us to live in." Germany's bases would be everywhere, her "penetration" would be world wide; no nation would be secure from the German menace; the British Dominions would be at h6r mercv. The German War Lords' contempt of humanity is the keynote of the infamies perpetrated during the war, and would also be the impelling power afterwards. It requires no gift of second sight to reveal what Germany would be after the war. If she was bent on world dominance when she plunged the nations into the most terrible conflict of all time, how much more will she be inclined to ruthlessness in the future unless her power for evil is crushed? Her losses* have been colossal in men, money, trade, and in every other direction, and her first efforts would be directed to rehabilitating herself financially. This means the seizure of every possible avenue of enrichment, and the sweeping out of her path of all rivals. She would claim that all the world's markets should be open to her wherein to buy and sell on the most favored terms, and would take no denial We may be thankful, therefore, that the world is awake and determined. There must be no next To place Germany in a position to emerge from the conflict- with the keys of the world in her possession would be to admit that_ all the lives lost have been sacrificed in vain and all the treasure used in the war wasted. The blood of our fallen heroes would cry aloud jigainst such an infamous end to the efforts of the fallen to bring about an era of real peace. Whatever happens, Britain must retain her rule over the ocean highways. Mr. Lloyd George said: "The crisis is not I yet. passed, but with unity and resolution on our part, God will stem the torrent." That is thd answer to these absurd peace proposals. The Allies will fight to a finish, and Germany will have to submit to their terms instead of imposing her will on the world.