The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1918. NO ARMISTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 246, 15 October 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1918. NO ARMISTICE.

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

Tlie outstanding item in to-day's mass of news about the German Note to America is the decision of the American

Government not to agree to the proposed armistice, but to continue to wage war with all force. The comments on the German reply to President Wilson, published yesterday nnd to-day, show clearly that Allied opinion realises the peril in the enemy's move, and is emphatically against any weakening of the Allies' purpose. From London, Paris, Rome, and Washington comes the same note of determination, and even those who believe that the German statement is a step towards a settlement state or imply that the enemy can have peace only if he gives guarantees that will satisfy the Allies. In the American comment there is a decided note of disappointment at the action of President Wilson in encouraging, or appearing to encourage, the Germans to negotiate. Two ex-Presi-dents have pointed out the perilous possibilities of the present situation, and the New York "Tribune" refers to Germany's "dreaded answer," by which it means the expected German demand for a discussion of the fourteen points, which was rendered inevitable by their vague and indefinite language. Senator Lodge has gone the length of introducing a resolution in the Senate breaking ofl negotiations with Germany. Rut.this is hardly fair to President Wilson, as he is certainly not negotiating peace with Germany, and it would have been wiser to wait and see how Mr. Wilson dealt with the Herman Note before taking such a step. English opinion is as hard as steel against any action by the Allies that will save the Germans from complete defeat. Two items in our English news to-day show how deeply the record of Germany has impressed itself on t-ec-tions of English Liberal and Radical opinion which have been diametrically opposed to anything savouring of .lingoism, and in the years before the w.ir were strong influenced on the side of peace. Thr» "Daily News" would not be satisfied with even the abdication of llie Kaisei, "because criminal responsibility cannot tie. cast off like a worn-out coat." It calls for "the punishment of the German criminals," and declares tint, in view of the Lei lister outrage, to talk of peace is "nauseating mockery.' 1 Mr. Frederic Harrison, one of the most high minded men of his time, who all his life has been a hater of war and a worker in the cause of peace, 'but who has seen clearly the issues involved in this war, demands the occupation of Berlin and half-a-dozen ot.ier cities -and the bringing of the German leaders to justice. Diplomatic circles make the interesting point, that Mr. Wilson's "fourteen points" were announced nine months ago, and that much has happened meanwhile, "including Mr. Wilson's own declaration that the points arc no longer sufficient to rehabilitate Germany in the eyes of the outraged world." One Of the things that happened after the framing of the 'fourteen points" was the Brest-Litovsk treaty, which showed what Germany was ready to do when she had the opportunity; another was the offensive in the West, an avowed bid for complete victory leading to world domination. One of the most interesting of to-day's messages sets out—unofficially, of course— the terms which Marshal Foch is said to have laid before last week's Allied Conference at Versailles as necessary guarantees in the event of nn armistice. It will have occurred to many of our readers that this Conference must have considered the possibility of such a move as flennany has just made, and Ihe attitude of the Allies towards it. Koch's terms are said to include the occupation by the Allies of Metz, Strassburg, and Coblenz, which would give them command of the Rhine, and enable them to insist upon Germany agreeing to and carrying out the Allies' peace settlement. The position is briefly this, that the Allies will not agree to anything short of complete victory, and there is no proof in sight that Germany is willing to surrender. The only terms that would satisfy the Allies would mean not only the complete defeat of German arms, the surrender of all the ambitions that prompted Germany to make war, and the loss of a great deal of German territory, but the breaking to pieces of the whole system of military and aristocratic caste and control which the ruling class in Germany has erected for its mwn purposes. The Crown and the supporting caste will never surrender this power and privilege until they are forced to do so, either at the point of the bayonet or by a revolution. And while the world is discussing the German proposals for ■peace the process of forcing them to this point is iproceeding. Foch is going on as if nothing had happened. He has taken La Fere and Laon, two more of the strongholds in the German system of defence; the British have surrounded Douai, and in the far north what looks like an offensive on a large scale has been launched by the British Second Army and the Belgians. The decision lies with the sword, and when it is aheathed there will be no basis for argument.