The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1919. RATIFICATION OF PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1919. RATIFICATION OF PEACE.

Although the ratification of the Peace Treaty was, by the Parliament of Britain, practically a matter of form, 'it gave members of the House of Commons an opportunity to express their views and criticisms on the terms laid down by the Peace Conference, as well as on the League of Nations, and the treaty entered into between Britain, America, and France guaranteeing help to France in the event of a future invasion by Germany.ln replying to the debate on the second reading of the Bill, Mr. Lloyd George expressed the opinion that the Government and the Conference had every reason to be gratified at the nature of the debate, as in the main the House had accepted the treaty, a verdict that will be endorsed by the whole Empire. It was a foregone conclusion that some of the critics should differ on the question of indemnities, some asserting that the conference had been too lenient, while others considered the terms were too severe, but when Mr. Bottomley moved an amendment regretting the absence of a definite obligation on Germany's part to compensate for Britain's total war losses, he found himself in a great minority, and the House endorsed the action of the Peace delegates. Regarded as a whole, and in the light of an earnest endeavor to put an end to war no one can fail to be struck with the greatness of the task which has been so satisfactorily carried out. "The peace of Versailles," says a recent issue of the Round Table, "will never be justly appreciated by those who fail to hoi 1 in mind the pressure under which its authors have worked. There are two strains in the Peace, and the' greatness of its nature is i mainly due to the first,: (1) The] force of the idealism wli'eh socks to found a new and saner (2) The other force looks less to the future than to the present and the past. It is a compound of: anger and fear." Whatever deficiencies there may be in the pres- j ent settlement can only be met by open-minded conference and co-operation; when that becomes possible, between the victors and their various enemies. Largely owing to the influence of President Wilson the treaty is impregnated with idealism. In this instance the force of idealism contains a vast reserve of human aspiration and feeling behind the dream of a world protected . against war, and the measure of protection is set forth in the treaty, and we are justified in believing that the spirit in this new covenant will do much to. correct the faults and strengthen the fabrie when its de ficiencies are seen. Many of the most critical problems are not ripe for solution of any sort. It was, therefore, inevitable that same should only he provisionally dealt, with, and others not dealt with at all. To have attempted a complete and final settlement of the face of the earth would have been insanity. "Britain," said Mr. Lloyd George, "had got substantial compensation for the wlivls of the shipping sunk, for the lives lost and injury sustained by sailors, and for all damage caused by air raids, while compensation had to be paid in respect of oil pensions and allowances, which would he a considerable annual charge on the taxes of the country." The war cost the Allies thirty thousand million sterling,. and the utmost farthing possible had been exacted from Germany, and nobody, said the British Premier, thought Germany could pay th? whole cost of the war. She has lost three-quarters of. her iron ore, one-third of her coal, seven millions of her population, the whole of her colonies and nearly all her navy., A good peace has been secured only because Germany re • cognised the existence of armies on her soil able to impose their owh terms. The tradition of the British Commonwealth is to be as magnanimous in victory as resolute in fight, and this; virtue has been exercised so that it shall not be an injustice to our friends, but with a breadth of'vision that the circumstances required. It is not the course Germany would have pursued had she been victorious, but the statecraft of that nation has brought the German Empire in ruins to the ground. The attitude taken by Mr. Lloyd George over the trial of the ex-ICaiser and other persons responsible for the awful slaughter of the war was in every way worthy of the occasion. "The Allies," he said, "had sufficient confidence in Britain that whoever came here would have a trial equal to the highest traditions of the British Government, and there is none higher in the world." Justice is all that is required and that the criminal": will have. The peace treaty is ij»m an SQQQiagiished faofr and it

is left to the League of Nations to readjust crudities and to repair and redress imperfections. "The treaty" said Mr Lloyd George, "will be a lighthouse in the deep, a warning to the nations and the rulers of nations against the perils on which the German Empire has shattered itself." So may it prove.