The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1918. A CONFLICT OF IDEALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1918. A CONFLICT OF IDEALS.

Experience lias taught us that any news emanating from visitors to Germany must be treated, ii" not exactly with suspicion, at any rate with extreme caution, so that the statement published yesterday as coming from an American named Emery need not necessarily be accepted as a correct picture of the conditions obtaining to-day in Germany. He says that democratic sentiment is growing in a thousand ways, that the civil cabinet has assumed control of General Staff, which" he alleges, is now discredited and defeated; that the Germans do not care for the Kaiser, his dynasty or his power, except for fear that his abdication might cause chaos, He further says that the German per* pie have turned towards President Wilson, because they consider him the only great political leader who can he trusted to make a permanent peace without disabling Germany economically, and that the? German people are willing to withdraw from France and Belgium, to give up AlsaceLorraine, and pay an indemnity to Belgium, but do not Avant German territory invaded. The statement would scarcely be worth noticing but for the fact that in the same cables we have news of the. resignation of General Ludendorff, the chief of staff, and virtual ruler of Germany, which indicates that the enemy nation is at last beginning to,realise the actual position and the fate hj: ",,- U, ?"A hv; the first practical step towards peace. There is abundant evidence to prove that what the Huns fear more than anything else is the invasion of the Fatherland, which is daily comin? nearer. Tf the weather permits, the Allies must, in a week or two. reach the Sambre and smash through in Lorraine or Alsace, or both, whilst the continuous retreat of the enemy gives the Allies better opportunities of'attacking the inland German towns by aeroplane, and thus bringing right home to the Huns the horrors of war they have made their chief business. "As for the transformation of the mind of the Germans, it cannot be expected tlmf in the course of but a few weeks if is possible to alter the viewpoint or nature of a people who for si-sty years have been taught to believe that mi "Tit is risrht, and that no international code of morals lias any nnplieatien to Germany. The anxiety of Prine* Maxmillian and Dr. Rolf to bargain for a peaee shows that the enemv do not realise the basic principle at stake—the overthrow of brute force as represented by militarism and the supremacy of righteousness, instice and l'herfr. Tt is no question of conflict of interests. Tf it were, a peace could no doubt be arranged tomorrow. The struggle is now a crusade for the overthrow of a code of morals fatal to the welfare .and the civilisation of mankind. The' position was lately put with great power, lucidity and conviction by Lord Robert Cecil in a reply to the peace by negotiation proposals set forth by Lord Lnnsdownc, and we can do no better than ouote from his remarks. He said:— There is more now at issue in the war than the causes of our intervention, in it. An aspect of the .war different from its effects on any national interests, whether British or French or Belgian, began to appear at a very early stage. From the time of the burning of Louvain it beg».n to be seen tha't we were not merely fighting in redemption of a promise not to bring a conflict of national interests to the decision of the ordeal by ba',tle, but to preserve the well-being of t-ho civilised world from a monstrous evil. Tins character of the war became plainer and plainer as time went on until, with the unlimited submarine attack and the intervention of America, it has become so dominant as to obscure all merely national controversies. Thai the citizens of a nation can know no higher object than to advance the interests of that nation, and for that object may commit any cruelty and any perfidy, is a doctrine which civilisation must cither destroy or else itself perish. The war is now a crusade. We fight to overthrow a principle, to stamp out a moral disease, to extirpate an abomination. The war is no longer, one between two groups of nations. It is the civilised world fighting to chastise rebels against its fundomental laws. The war can end not in conversations and negotiations as between equals, but in the recognised dofeat and consequent submission of the rebel nation. We have *o snow that there is, in fact and reality, a power in the world greater than the power of any nation; for if that be not shown, nn' what basiis can rest the authority of the T.easue of Nations? If the event of the war were to show that German could hold its own against the world, the unconditional nationalism, which •'s the evil principle that Germans maintain, would bave been justified in point •of force, though not of riarlit. It is vital to the idea of a super-national supremacy wbicb is implied m a League of Nations to nrove that there is a power in the world greater than the strength of the most warlike nation. Otherwise Germany might become neither a loya\ member nor even an obedient subject of the League. Its nationalism miTht still remain unlimited, seeking afresh to

strengthen itself by accumulated force till it should be strong enough to light again; other nations would be obliged to do the like, find the League would fail of its purpose. The war must be fought till it end in the submission of Germany. By submission I do not in the least mean destruction. Indeed it is not, I believe, possible to destroy a strong and united nation by military defeat. Jena did not destroy Prussia; Sedan did not destroy France; and a greater victory than these cannot be won- We do not seek to destroy Germany, but Ave seek to force Germans to recognise that they have been defeated, and to. submit to the authority of a world stronger than they. In familiar language wo seek to "abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices;" for their pride made them strive to dominate the world, their malice hag defiled.both land and sea with murder, and their devices, untiring if also unskilful, have been traced in every land, stirring up discord and violence and revolt. It is the end of these crimes and of the spirit tliaf prompts them that I hope to sc» realised by the submission of Germany. And submission cannot be attained by negotiations such as are now suggested to u?. Negotiation at the present time might lead to an agreenient as between cnuals, but not to the submission of a defeated nation to superior power. And until that submission is made it is idla to hope that the German Government will turn from the false gods it worships. I dare say there are wise and good Germans who bate the system of idnod and iron. But they have no power nnd will have none so long as that system maintains it's repute. Our business is not to suffer it to save its credit, but to make its failure plain aecordini to its mvn standards. Moloch must be humiliated in the sight of all his votyfies, if they are to accept a purer faith-

For the reasons so logically set forth above it must be obvious That anything less than unconditional surrender of the enemy at the present time is unthinkable. The Germans have to acknowledge defeat. Without their submission, the true foundations of a durable peace cannot be laid. It is unwise to believe that thcCler-:"-.'!i::: have yet cast away their idols. 'They axe suffering defeat, H 12 true, but until they turn out their high priests represented by the military clique and the Hohenzollerns and substitute true deinocrattic control, the world they have so deeply wronged and outraged is justified in continuing 1o question their bona fides and in making war upon them with all power and without stint.