The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1922. PLANS THAT FAILED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 72, 25 March 1922, Page 6

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

SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1922. PLANS THAT FAILED.

■ ■ ■ . Par the mine that tacks assistant*, Par the wrong that need* resistance, Par the future in th* distance, And tht oood that we can &>.

One of Italy's leading statesmen, SigDor Nitti, has written a book, "Peaceless Europe," in which he has necessarily a great deal to say about the causes and the character of the AA-ar, and the nature of the settlement finally arri\ed at by the peace of Vercailles. But perhaps the most interesting feature of the work is a memorandum, not previously published, except in incomplete extracts, which -Mr. Lloyd George presented to the Peace Conference in March, 1919. We arc not nt present concerned Avith Signor Nitti's vieAvs but Avith the British Prime

Minister's, and Aye may say at once that this document ie likely to give the world a much more favourable impression of Mr. Lloyd George's statesmanship and of the methods by which he desired to secure peace than has been generally received. There is. in our opinion, a great deal of political wiedom in the warnings Avhich Mr. Lloyd George uttered, as to the danger "of driving (iermany to desperation, the menace of Bolshevism, the possibility of permanently crippling Germany, the desirabilit3- of helping her to her feet if she is to make effective reparation, and the need for resettling the boundaries and territorial areas of the new Europe on strictly nationalist lines. All this seems to us to reflect much credit upon Mr. Lloyd George's judgment, and it is much to be regretted that the course Avhich the PoAvers eventually followed has deviated so far in come directions frpm the line of action which the British Premier fir.st attempted to define. He has the satisfaction, however, of knowing that subsequent events have to a large extent proved the Avisdom of his warnings.

But Avhilc admitting this for the benefit of the many people who admire and praise Mr. Lloyd George beyond all reasonable limits, Aye must observe that this memorandum reveals certain inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his presentment of the situation. The attitude to be adopted by the statesmen at the Conference, as recommended by Mr. Lloyd George, Avas that of "impartial arbiters, forgetful of the passions of war." In our opinion, it Avas neither necessary nor desirable that the representatives of the PoAvers should ignore Germany's guilt and her direct responsibility for the war and its consequences: Avhile the attempt to take up this neutral and purely judicial attitude not only vitiated much of Avhat the Allies had done in unison, but alienated some of them from France and made her claims and fears unintelligible to them. It is true that Mr. Lloyd George demands justice for the Allies, and full recognition of Germany's offences against international morality. At the same time, he insists that no responsible German Government would dare to sign a peace which it regarded as " unjust or excessiA-ely onerous"; and that tbe attempt to enforce such terms would inevitably lead to future Avars. The ansAver to all this is clearly that, as the sequel proA - ed, Avhile the neAv German GoA - ernment did accept severe aud humiliating terms, under no circumstances could the German people or their rulers have been persuaded that their punishment Avas merited or just.

In dealing Avith the Germans the weakness of Mr. Lloyd George's position lias aIAA - ays been this, that be is torn by conflicting motiA-es—the instinctive desire to punish the Avrongdoers, and the Avish, equally instinctive Avith him, to placate and conciliate and to Avin them back to friendship instead of giving them excuses for confirming and perpetuating their enmity. French statesmen are more logical and single-purposed. They consider that their duty to France and Europe i s to punish the nation that caused the AA-ar, to secure some compensation for its victims, and by protecting France against future dangers to ensure the peace of the Avorld. The danger in Mr. Lloyd George's policy is that it may secure less than justice; its strength lies in its appeal to the moral forces of peace and friendship. The danger in the French attitude is that it may push Germany too far, and ultimately make for Avar instead of peace. To reconcile these tAvo policies is the supreme task of the Allies. Mr. Lloyd George, howe.xer t realised from the first the urgent need for providing against the recurrence of such terrible and destructive conflicts. In the memorandum from Avhich Aye haA-e quoted, he insists that the first step toAvard world-peace must be disarmament, and he reveals his political prescience by forecasting "a firm understanding" between America and the European PoAvers to prevent "the competitive building up of fleets and armies." But in our opinion an eA-en more noteAvorthy proof of the British Premier's political Avlsdom is his insistence that "until the authority and effectiveness of the League of Nations has been demonstrated, the British Empire and the L'nited States ought to give France a guarantee against the possibility of a neAv German aggression." If only this course had been adopted, and the PoAvers had held to it firmly and consistently, how much nearer the Avorld would be to permanent peace to-day!