The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1919. COMMENT ON THE TREATY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 May 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1919. COMMENT ON THE TREATY.

The time given to the Germans wherein to consider the terms of the Peace Treaty expires to-day, and there appear to be grounds for hoping that they will bow to the inevitable, though we must expect some attempt will be made to have alterations 'on a large scale. It was only natural that German press comments should display intense Htterness, together with a full expression of those Wild and defiant outbursts to which we are so accustomed. That Berlin should go into mourning for a week is a piece of gallery play that illustrates how deeply the iron of defeat has entered into the feelings of the people—not mourning, be it noted, far the crimes that have necessitated harsh terms, but for the loss of prestige. Germany is disconsolate at being shorn of her power to tyrannise over the weaker nations, and suffering from a fit of ill humor at being thwarted in the desire for world dominance. There is also a certain picturesqueness of phrasing in some of the comments. There is something irresistibly droll in the portrayal of Germany "standing on the tomb of hope," and wondering whether it is also the tomb of the nation. Herr Harden aptly sums up the situation thus: "The conditions are not harder than expected. . . . The Government proclamations are only bad copies of the Kaiser's time. The Avhole press is violently instigating the Germans against the Allies, and agitating for a refusal to sign the treaty. .

. . I believe the Allies have made the conditions hard because they are suspicious." There is | the reason in a nutshell. It is because Germany cannot be trusted that it has been deemed imi perative to take such stringent precautions to safeguard the world's peace. Unfortunately, among British journals there are some that do not realise the real reason for the stringency of the terms, and among these is the Observer, which has just given what is described as "a slashing criticism of the peace treaty," all the more to be regretted because of the bad example it sets to the lesser lights of journalism. To un derstand this criticism it is necessary to bear in mind that the editor has been writing a series of articles on the League of Nations as the only security for world peace. He has expressed his views on Germany's right to be tenderly handled with considerable emphasis, and has denounced in strong terms what he calls "super

indemnities." Apparently he would let Germany off light!;.' for fear of a war of vengeance in the future. The creation of a League of Nations is not of itseJf mim>icnt to clip Germany's power fo- evil. There must be safeguards. suc-Ii ns are to be fo'nnd in the treaty terms. "In ancient times," says the Observer recently, "when yoi killed your enemy in battle you stripped him of his armor aud took it unto yourself. Now, having laid the enemy prostrate we are urged in effect to strip him of some at least of his Hunnish prin ciples and adopt them ourselves. No one, apparently, proposes tf kill the whole German race . .

j . instead is a policy leaving j the German race very much alive, I and certain to become for the first time politically united by the addition o? the German-Ans : trians, with the maximum inducement to renew war soon?r or later, with increased relative strength in some ways, to undertake it." Reference is made to the inde.-n----j nity wrung from Prance in 1871, which is likened unto the guerdon of Judas—thirty pieces of silver and a halter, and then comes a sneering allusion to '' those joyous persons who think it possible and profitable—and right if only profitable—to keep the German under tribute and in serfage for twenty, or fifty, or even a hundred years. . . . The mockery is that the worst of these know nothing either of Germany or of economies, ami are thinking incompetently about money." In the light of these expressed views the value of the Ob server's criticisms is at once apparent. \ They are dominated by the author's campaign—a very worthy one in reasonable limits—in favor of leaving Germany to be dealt with by the League of Nations, and leaving the criminal nation practically unpunished and free to.regain strength for that war of vengeance which, if it is to come, will certainly not be retarted or in any way rendered leas possible by taking the sting out of the terms of peace as at present framed. The Observer is not like some of the other London "peftce-at-any-price" journals. It is essentially patriotic, and in the darkest hours of our reverses during the war did much by ltd courageous and resolute articles to maintain the spirit and strengthen the fibre of the nation, but the journal fails to see that Germany is an outcast and has to redeem tierself in the eyes of the world before she can be taker, bac i into the fold. There is no sign of e m Irition on Germany's part. The.'e is, on the contrary, every .?ign of the old arrogance and self-infat-uation that brought about the conflagration. The Germans have only one regret,. It is not that they weie guilty of the colossal crime of causing the war and the unparalleled losses and untold misery accompanying ij. Their regretis that they did not win. To them the end justifies the means, acrl everything would have been quiu! satisfactory had they succeeded in defeating the Allies: When they show a different spirit, when they are cleansed of their perverted ideas, when tluy have atoned i\>itheir awful crimes it will be time enough to ease the terms and allow them to meet the other nations on some terms of equality. At present, if the Observer's advice were followed, and the handicaps placed on Germany removed and reeonciliatcry measures adopted. Germany, to be sure, would misinterpret the motives and still bear a grudge against the Allies for defeating her. And she would take measures accordingly when times were propitious ior her to 1

do so. Germany is an outlaw, and ttttist meanwhile' life treated as such. The Allies can afford to take no chances with hel". Hence the stringency of the terms of peace. When she has shown a regeneration of spirit it will be time enough to treat her with respect and consideration.