The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE IN INCORPORATED The Evening News Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1918. GERMANY AND PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 51, 28 February 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE IN INCORPORATED The Evening News Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1918. GERMANY AND PEACE.

For the cause that lochs assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that too can do.

In his statement on peace the German Chancellor continues the policy of attempting to throw "upon the Allies the responsibility for the continuation of the war. Germany is willing to discuss peace, he says, on the basis of President Wilson' 6 message to Congress on 11th February. Baron yon Hextling hopes by this statement not only to strengthen the moral of the Germans, by persuading them that the Allies are waging a war of conquest, but also to win the support of those elements in Allied countries who are in favour of negotiating with the enemy. The Baron is in favour of discussing peace on the basis of the message of February 11. But that message does not stand alone. One drjes not find in it the whole of Mr. Wilson's policy. It wag delivered in comment on the replies of the German Chancellor and Count Czernin to the war aims statements made by Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George in January. This February message dealt with the war aims of the Allies in general terms, and to see what a difference there is betw-een -what Germany says she is prepared to agree to and what Mr. Wilson is determined to, fight for, we must go back to the Presidential statement of January S. ,

The Chancellor says that " every duxable peace must be built on justice," an admirable sentiment that is belied when he comes down to details- The question of Belgium " should be discussed in a friendly manner," and while Germany j has " repeatedly declared that she did not think of retaining Belgium," she must be "' protected against Belgium being used as a deploying ground for enemy machinations." This alone ia quite enough to damn the whole statement, fox the Allies cannot think of negotiating with Germany until Germany is ready to restore Belgium's independence without a shadow of a condi-; tion, and to make reparation, for the wrong 6 committed there. It is not true to say that Germany has repeatedly said she did not think of retaining Belgium When the German Government was challenged last year by Mr. Asquith to say definitely whether or not it would give up Belgium, and make reparation, there was no reply. As we pointed out some time ago, the idea of a complete surrender there and reparation has no substantial following in Germany. The Pan-Germans indeed have been openly urging the retention of the Belgian coast, and it is known that the party has great influence with the Government. According to Baron yon Hertling, there is no Alsace-Lorraine question in an international sense, and it is evident that the German Government has no intention of satisfying France in this respect. As regards the Eastern frontier, the Chancellor declares that the renewed invasion of Russia. ha 6 been undertaken to secure peace with Russia, and not for conquest; but he will not say anything definite about the future of Courland and Lithuania, and he admits that Germany will claim a " rectification " of the Polish frontier for "military reasons. It is evident, too. that Germany wants her colonies back, will not agree to the transfer of the Italianspeaking provinces of Austria, and means to claim the return of the conquered Turkish territories. Compare these terms with those laid down by Mr. Wilson, whose aims are almost identical with those set forth by Mr. Lloyd George. Mr. Wilson said there must be evacuation of all Russian territory, evacuation and restoration of French. Serbian. Rumanian and Montenegrin territory, the complete restoration of Belgian independence, transfer of Alsace and Lorraine to France, readjustment of the Italian frontiers along national lines, creation of an independent Polish State, and separation from Turkish rule of non-Turkish elements in the Ottoman. Empire. With most of this programme the Allied Labour-Socialist Conference was in agreement.

Despite his profession of agreement, the principles underlying Baron yon Hertling's speech are utterly at variance with those animating President Wilson. For instance, the Chancellor regards the future of Alsace and Lorraine as a purely German question, and presumably he would say that the redemption of the Trentino and of the Rumanian districts in Hungary was a purely Austrian question. But President Wilson rightly insists that this attitude is quite wrong, that, these questions concern the whole world- "The peace of the world depends upon the just settlement of each of the several problems to which I adverted in my recent address to the Congress," he said in his message on February 11th, referring to the terms mentioned in his comnrunication of January Bth. "I, of course, do not mean that the peace of the world depends upon the acceptance of any particular 6et of suggestions as to the way in which those problems are to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems each and all affect the whole world; that unless they are dealt with in a spirit of unselfish and unbiassed justice, -with a view to the wishes, the natural connections, the racial aspirations, the security, and the peace of mind of the peoples involved, no permanent peace will have been attained. They cannot be discussed separately or in corners. None of them constitutes a private or separate interest from which the opinion of the world may be shut out. Whatever affects the peace affects mankind, and nothing settled by military force, if settled wrongly, is settled at all. It will presently have to be reopened." Baron yon Hertling and President "Wilson live in different worlds, and until the Baron is forced to change his tone, the war must go on. Germany is utterly unrepentant, and not in the least inclined to admit that she is beaten or will be beaten. A peace in the terms mentioned by the Chancellor would be a German victory, and would prepare the way for the German conquest of the world.