A GREAT DOCUMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1919, Page 9

A GREAT DOCUMENT.

REMORSELESS AND UHANSWEEABLE REASONING. THE ALLIES UEPEAT THEIR IMPEACHMENT OP GERMANY. THE JUDGMENT OP THE WHOLE 01? CIVILISED MANKIND ON THE GREATEST CBIlliJ EVER .COMMITTED. London, June 20. THE QUESTION. "Somebody must suffer for the consequences of the war. Is it to be Germany or the peoples she has wronged?" '! think there is too much inclination—l thought I saw it in Paris as well as m London—to, act as if it were all over. _ "It is not all over. The Chief of our Imperial Stalf counted to roe in Paris flu- other dfty twenty-three different wars which are taking place now."—Mr. Bonar Law. The Allies have now laid before Germany their final terms, which ahe must accept or reject now. It is, indeed, a terrible document, in winch the Allies repeat their impeachment of Germany for the gr&ccst crimes o\ er committed. And the need for the repetition is that even now Germany fads to understand the position, in. which sh» stands to-day. Hero is this historic judgment given by praoticaJly the whole of civilised mankind" It is signed by Monsieur Clemeneeau, but is said to have been written by Mr. P. W. Kerr. It says;— Mr. President, — "The Allied and Associated Powers have ghen the most earnest, consideration to the observations of ti>e German Delegation on the draft Treaty of Peace. The reply protests against the peace on the ground both that it conflicts with the terms upon which the Armistice of Novwiiber 11, 1918, was signed, ante that lit is a peace of violence and not of justice. -

protest of the German Delegation show.-; that they fail to understand t"ie position in which Germany stands to-day. They seem to think that Germany has only to 'make sacrifices in order to attain peace,' as if this were but, the end of some mere struggle for territory and power. The Allied and Associated Powers, therefore, feel it necessary to begin their reply by a* elear statement of the judgment of the war which has been formed by practically the whole of civilised mankind. |

THE GREATEST CRIME. "In the view of the Allied and Associated Powers, the war which began on August I, 1914, was the greatest crime against humanity and the freedom of peoples that any nation, calling itself civilised, lias ever consciously committed. "For many years the rulers of Germany, true to the Prussian traditions, strove ior a position of dominance in Europe. They were not satisfied With that growing prosperity and influence to which Germany was entitled, and which all other Nations were willing to accord her, in the society of free and penal required, that tlie.y should be t\S dictate to and tyrannise over a subservient Europe, as'tlier d'ctated to any tyrannised over a subservient Germany, 'in order to attain their ends- they used every channel through which to educate their own subjects in the doctrine that might was right in international affairs. They never ceased to expand German arma"mcnts by land and sea, and to propagnte the falsehood that it was necessary because Germany's neighbours were jealous of her prosperity and power.

THE CHARGES. ''They sought to sow hostility and suspicion instead of friendship between nations. They developed a iystem of espionage and intrigue iviiich enabled them to stir up internal rebellion and u-irest, and even to make secret offensive preparations within the territory of their neighbours whereby they mfclit. when the moment came, strike thorn down with greater certainty and ease. They kept Europe in a ferment liy threats of violence, and when they found that their neighbours were resolved to resist their arrogant will, they determined to assist their predominance in Europe by force. "As soon as their preparations were complete they encouraged a subservient ally to declare war on Serbia at 48 hours' notice, a war involving the Control of the Balkans which they knew could not be localised, and which was bound to unchain a general war. In order to make doubly sure, they refused every attempt at concision 'and conference until it was too late and the world war wits inevitable for which they had plotted, and for which alone among t'ne nations they were adequately equipped and prepared.

SAVAGE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. "Germany's responsibility, however. ;s not confined to having "planned and started the war. She is no less responfor the savage and inhuman manner in which it was conducted/Though Germany was itself the guaik an tor of Belgium, the rulew or Germany violated, aftef a solemn promise to respect it, the neutrality of this unoffending people. Not content with this, thev deliberately carried out a series of promiscuous shootings and burnings, with the sole _ object of terrifying the'inhabi-t-a.nts' "jnto submission by the very fright fulness of their action.' They were the first to use poisonous gas. notwithstanding the appal|ing suffering it entailed. They began the. bombing and long-distance shelling of towns for no military object, but solely for the purpose of redilein? the moral of their opponents by striking at, their women and children. They commenced the submarine campaign, with its piratical challenge to international law and its destruction ot great liumbets of innocent passengers and sailors in mid-ocean, far from succour, at the mercy of the winds unci waves, and the yet more ruthless submarine crews.

"They drove thousands of men and women with brutal savagerv into slavery in foreign lands. They allowed barbarities to be practised against their prisoners of war from which the most uncivilised peoples would have recoiled. "The conduct of Germany is almost unexampled in human history. The terrible responsibility which 'lies at. her doors can be seen in the /net that, not less than 7.000,000 dead Tie buried in Europe, while more than 20.000,000 others earry upon them the evidence of wounds and sufferings because Germany saw fit to gratify her lust for tyranny by resort to war.

"The Allied and Associated rowers believe that they will be false to those who have given (heir all to save the freedim of the world if they consent to treat this war on any other basis than as a crime against humanity and right.

"WILSON'S CHARGE." "This attitude of llie Allied and Associated Powers was made perfectly clear to, Germany during t.'ie war by their principal .statesmen. It was defined by T" S0 " h ' ! ' is of April », 1918, and explicitly and categorically accepted by the German people as a principle governing the .Peace:— "Let everything we-say, my fellowcountrymen, everything that we henceioi til plan and accomplish, ring true to this response, till the majesty and m'Hit ot our concerted power shall till the til oughts and utterly defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we honor and hold dear. Ciermany has once more said that force and force alone film decide whether justice and peace shall reign in the affairs of men, whether Right as America conceives it or Dominion as she conceives it shall determine the destinies of mankind. There is, therefore, but one response possible from US: Force. Force to the utmost l'orce without, stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant l'orce which slialf make Right the law 'of the world, mid cast every sollish dominion down in the dust.'

LLOYD GEORGE'S CHARGE. /'m sct for " 1 c,Ml "ly »» a speech , prin "' Minister of Great ,Brilam dated December 14, 10J7: •"There is ~o security in any land Without certainty of punishment.' There is no protection for life, property, or money in a State where the criminal is more powerful than the law. The law of nations is no exception, and, until it has been vindicated, the peace of the world \y,ll always be at the mercy of any nation whose professors have assiduously taught it to believe that 110 crime is wrong so long as it leads to the a«. grandisement and cnrichmnut of the country to which they owe allegiance There have been many times in the histoiy of the world criminal State*. We are dealing with one of them now. And there will always lie criminal States rntil the reward of international crime becomes too precarious to make it profitable, and the punishment, of international crime becomes too sure to make it attractive,'

"It was made clear also in nn address of if- Clemeneeau of September IDIS'"Whatdo they (the French'soldiers) want? What do we ourselves want? To fight, to fight victoriously and unceasingly, until the hour when' the enemy sliall understand Unit is possible between s%/li crime and "jiistier-.'" "•Similarly, Signer Orlando, speakin" on October :s, HHS, declared:— " '"We shall obtain I'ence when our enemies recognise that humanity has the right and duty to safeguard itself against a continuation of s -ur-h causes as have brought about this terrible slaiHitcr, and thnt»tlie blood of men calls not for vengeance, but for the realisation of those high ideals for which it has been so generously shed. Nobody thinks of employing-even |>y way of legitimate retaliation-methods of britfal violence or of overbearing domination or of suffocation of the freedom of any people—methods and policies which niado th# whole, world rise against.the Central

Powers. But nobody will contend that the moral order can he restored simplv bocan.se he who fails in his iniquitous endeavour declares that he has renounced Ins aim. Questions intimately aJTectinjr the peaceful life of nations, once raised must: obtain the solution which justice requires.'

JUSTICE FOR ALL. '•'Justice, therefore, is the onlv possible basis for the settlement of the accounts of tliis terrible war. Justice is what the German Dele|ation asks for,, and says that Germany has been promised. But it must be justice for all. "There must be justice for the dead and wounded and for those who have ■ been orphaned and bereaved that Europe might be freed from Prussian despotism , e must b e jj, stice for {he , I who now stagger under war debts which iexceed £30,000,000,000 that liberty mHit be saved Tlwre must he justice for those millions whose, homes and. lands ships and property German savagery has spoliated and destroyed. "This is why the Allied'and Associated I owcrs have insisted as a cardinal feature of the Treaty that Germany must undertake to make reparation to the \ery uttermost of her power, for reparation for wrongs inflicted is of the essence of justice. "That is why tfiey insist t.lmt those ijimviduate who are most clearly responsible for German aggression' and for .of; " < ' ts of barbarism and inhumanity which have disgraced the German conduct of the war must, be handed over to a justice which lias not been meted out to them at home.

GERMANY HAS ROBBED. "Germany has ruined the industries, lie miner, and the machinery of neighbouring countries, not during'battle, but with the deliberate and calculated purpose of enabling her own industries to

seize their markets bofore their industries could recover from the devastation thus wantonly inflicted upon them. Germany has despoiled her neighbours of every Hung she eottld make, use of or earry away, Germany has destroyed the "hipping of all nations in the high seas, where there was no chance of rescue for their passengers and crews. It is only justice that restitution should be made, and that these wronged peoples sliouh; he safeguarded for a time from the competition of a nation whose industries are intact, and have even been fortified bv machinery stolen from occupied ierritones. If these things arc hardships for iiermany, they are hardships which Germany has brought upon herself. Somebody must sutler for the consequences of the war. Is it to be Germany Or the peoples she has wronged? . ''Not to do justice to all concerned would only leave the read open to fresh calamities.

■IS GERMANY CHANGED? It is said that the German revolution ought to make a difference, and that the German people are not responsible lor the policy of the rulers whom thev nave tliro\yn from power. The Allied UK. Associated Powers recognise and welcome the change, It rspreasnts a

great hope for peace and a new European order in the future. But it cannot nlTect the settlement of- the war itself. The German revolution was stayed until the German armies had been defeated in the field and all hope of pro* fil ing liy a war of conquest had vanished. Throughout the war, as before the war,, the German people and their representatives supported the war, voted the credits, subscribed to the war loans, obeyed every order, however savage, of their Government .They shared the responsibility for the policy of their Government, for at any moment, had they willed it, they could have reversed it. 1 Had that policy succeeded they would have acclaimed it with the samp'enthusiasm with which they welcomed the outbieak of the war. They cannot now pretend, having changed their Tillers after the war was lost, that it is justice that they should escape the consequences of their deeds.

"The Allied and Associated ; '*mr have given careful consideratio i» tto request of the German Delegation that Germany should be admitted to tho League of Nations as one of tho conditions of Peace. They are unable to accede ti; this request. The Gewrtan revolution was postponed to the last moments of the war, and there is as yet no guarantee that it represents a permanent change. ' "But the Allied and Associated •Powers believe that if the (iermiui people prove by their acts that they intend to fulfil the conditions of the Peace, and that they have abandoned for ever those aggressive and estranging policies which caused the war, and have now become a people with whom it is possible to live in neighbourly good fellowship, the memories of the past years will speedily f.ide, and it will be possible at an early date to complete the League of Na--j tions by, the admission of ficj'mwiv thereto .It is their earnest hope tha't this may be the case.

"Tlie Allied and Associated Powers therefore believe that the Peace they '"jve- proposed is fundamentally a Peace nf justice. They are no leas certain that it is a Peace of right on the terms agreed. There can be no doubt lis to the intentions of the Allied and Associated Powers to l>ase the settlement of Tiurope on the principle of freeing oppressed peoples and re-drawing national boundaries) as far as possible ill accordance with the will of the peoples concerned, while giving'to each facilities for living an independent national and Economic life. These intentions were made clear not only in President Wils >n's Address to Congress of January 8, 1018, but in 'the principles of settlement emincjntcd in lus subsequent addresses,' which was the agreed basis of the Peate. A PEACE OP JUSTICE. "In conclusion, the Allied and Associated Powers must make it clear that this le'tter and the memorandum attached constitute their lost word. They have, in consequence, made important practical concessions in the Draft Treaty. But in its fundamental principles they stand by it. Tlioy believe thai it is not only a juat settlement of the great war, but tliAt it provides the bjunt upon which

the peoples o*f Europe can live toget&er in friendship and equality. "At the same time it creates the machinery for the peaceful adjustment of all international problems by v discnssion and consent, and whereby the settlement'of 1019 itself can be modified from tian> to time to suit new facts and new conditions as they arise It is frankly not based upon'a general condonation of the events of 1914-18. It would not be a Peace of Justice if it were, liut ft represents a sincere and deliberate attempt to establish 'that reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organised opinion of jnankind' which was the agreed basis of the Peace-

"As such, tho Treaty in its present form must be accepted or rejected."