The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening news, Morning news and The Echo. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1918. GERMANY AND PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 245, 14 October 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening news, Morning news and The Echo.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1918. GERMANY AND PEACE.

For the caus* that lacks asms-ram*, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the. future in the rfestcrF.ee, And tlie good that we rxin. do.

The report that Germany has announced her acceptance of the principles set forth by President Wilson in his "fourteen points" speech and other similar public utterances is not in any way surprising. For by professing adherence, to these principles the rulers of Germany commit themselves to nothing, and at the same time enable, themselves to put forward a more or less plausible request for negotiation on the lines that President Wilson has laid down. For these reasons we. cannot see that the world is any nearer peace because, of Germany's suddenly acquired interest in the famous "fourteen points." We may at once, admit that Germany'i" willingness to go even this far in the direction of discussing a possible settlement is a satisfactory proof that her fighting strength ia seriously impaired, and that the Kaiser and his militarist accomplices know that they are facing the possibility of absolute and overwhelming ruin. But it by no means follows that the German professions of a desire for peace on President Wilson's terms or on any conditions but their own are sincere and trustworthy. It is easy to suggest reasons for Germany's eagerness to catch at any expedient which may conceivably tide her over the grave crisis now confronting her. For Foch's brilliant strategy and the magnificent fighting pcrwerß of the French, British and American armies have brought matters to such a pass in tho West that the German armies are threatened with annihilation, and the whole military organisation of the Central Powers will sooner or later he irremediably shattered and destroyed. Germany's one hope, therefore, is by the pretence of inclining toward peace on the President's terms, to inveigle the Allies into prolonged negotiations, and perhaps even to induce them to grant an armistice; and if the Kaiser and his colleagues were to succeed in their purpose they might even now at this eleventh hour avert the destruction which threatens their armies and their system. We need hardly emphasise the immense advantages that Germany would secure if on any pretest, or in return for any conceivable verbal concession, she coulrl persuade the Allies to arrange a temporary truce, and thus give her armies respite from the shattering blows that the Allies, guided by Foch's genius, are now dealing them. But even more valuable to Germany than a cessation of active warfare just now would be. the chance of luring the Allies into negotiation on equal terms. If once the Allies withdraw from their declared resolve not to negotiate peace with the Tlohenzollerns and the Hahs-burgs. but to impose peace unconditionally upon them, the world will be face to face with dangers as menacing and portentous aa any that bave threatened it since the war began. The Germans understand all this perfectly well, and that is why they are so desperately anxions to manoeuvre the Allies into a diplomatic , discussion on any conceivable basis. But i happily it does not seem likely that this

palpable trick will serve their ends just, now. For even if we discount heavily the intense bitterness against Germany now diffused throughout the Allied nations, we have, as usual, to thank the Germans themselves for explaining their real intentions to us.

Even -while the German official newspapers are asserting the willingness of the Kaiser and his .people to accept the

" fourteen points,*' they are remarking, incidentally, that, of couree, Germany must get her colonies back, and that 6he must be assured, as a preliminary, that Belgium will not be used as a means of attacking her—in other words, -whatever else happens, Germany must at once be guaranteed against invasion through Belgium, and that equally, of course, the German armies will not need to withdraw from Poland and the Russian western provinces because (wonderful to relate!) the Poles and Serbs and Lithuanians do not 'wish them to go. But these are only the childish evasions and subterfuges with which German diplomacy has long since made us painfully familiar. Far more amazing is the statement officially promulgated by tho egregious llerr Erzberger, head of Germany's Propaganda Department, that the German people, and not the soldiers, now dominate the situation, and that, as the War Minister and two generals who were ''considered to embody

militarism" have been removed, military -power in Germany is now subordinated to civic control. We may observe in passing, that Herr Erzberger, as leader of the Central party, is a typical Conservative, and Clerical, with no more sympathy for democratic principles or democratic government than the, Kaiser himself. But whatever Erzberger's personal convictions might be, cau any

sane man or woman outside Germany pretend to believe that, in a moment. Cermany has been able, with the consent of its rulers, to transform ite-elf front a military despotism into a constitutional democracy? In Germany the Reichstag docs _ot represent public opinion. Ministers are not responsible to the Reichstag, and the German Parliament, as Germans are fond of saying, is only- a "delating claw;'' whose decisions need have no effect whatever on the course of affairs. And now because, the Germans badly need peace on their own terma, they are asking us to forget all that we know about them and their methods of government, and to accept their assurance that in negotiating with the Kaiser and his faithful servant the Chancellor, the Allies would be dealing directly with a free and democratic. German nation 1

Of all the puerile, devices that the. rulers of the Central Powers have so far invented in the hope of deluding thei Allies, or stirring up discord between them, these silly fables albout the sudden growth of a ne.w German democxacy are the crudest and least successful. But in spite of all this, though there is not. the least rational excuse for believing that the. rulers of Germany are yet prepared to accept peace on any terms but their own, or that the German people are yet able to express any opinion on the subject independent of or antagonistic to the Kaiser and the militarists, there is still grave danger latent in the bare possibility of negotiations at this stage of the struggle. And the worst feature of the present situation is that as regards "President Wilson's "fourteen points," it is difficult to find a logical reason for refusing to disc—s them •with the enemy. For with all respect for President Wilsons unquestionable sincerity and ability it can hardly be denied that his love of abstractions and his tendency to vague ethical generalisations have, frequently made bis policy difficult to follow, and have rendered his views on diplomatic questions somewhat indefinite and impracticable. Among the American people themselves these things are keenly felt, ami before America's entry into the war the President's utterances were very severely criticised on theso lines in the United States. We are, of course, well aware that Senator lyodgc, for example, is a Republican, and therefore a political opponent of President Wilson, and as be is also concerned to maintain the right of the Senate to negotiate? treaties he is not disposed to leave the work of settlement to the President alone. But allowing for all this, .we must admit that there is good ground for Senator Lodge's complaint that the "President's utterances have been frequently funding and apparently inconsistent; and it is because the famous "fourteen points." by reason of* the rather vague and indefinite language in which they are expressed, afford so much scope for controversy that the Germans are now seizing eagerly upon them as a pretext for further discussion and negotiation.