The Press. Wednesday, November 6, 1918. The Situation.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16362, 6 November 1918, Page 6

The Press. Wednesday, November 6, 1918. The Situation.

Telegrams from America furnish what purports to be a summary of the leading provisions of the armistice granted to Austria,' but the full terms will not be published until to-morrow or Thursday. Mr Bonar Law states, however, that the House of Commons will be satisfied with them, and from this we may draw very large conclusions. Armistice con. ditions would not be satisfactory unless they placed the Allies in just as favourable a position militarily as if they had occupied Austria by military means, and Mr Bonar Law's expression justifies us in believing that this has been arranged, and that the way will be open for the invasion of Germany, on land and by air, from the south-east, in .coojunction with the Bohemian Czechs. In addition to this new perS, Germany has to consider the extremely serious addition to her troubles involved in the cutting off of her oil supplies from Galicia, Baku, and Roomania, and of the sources of her supplies of foreign foodstuffs. Of great importance, too, is the creation of a free Mediterranean, involving a large addition to the naval strength of the Allies in the North Sea, on easing of the shipping situation, and the reinforcement of tho armies in France and Flanders by troops from Italy and the armies in Turkey and the. Balkans.. Germany can easily carry on the war for some time, but it must be apparent' to everybody in Germany, and even to Hindenburg, despite his brave words, that tho prolongation of the. conflict will merely mean for Germany a final period of frightful miseries enormous losses of leading up

to unconditional surrender. "What the enemy hopes—what Prince Max, at any rate, certainly hopes—is that before Germany's soil's invaded and Germany's armies smashed, a "spirit of reason" will develop everywhere and the Allies will say, "This slaughter must cease." There can be few people in any Allied country who do not ardently long for a cessation of the carnage, but at the same time opinion in the Allied countries is overwhelmingly in favour of insisting that the words shall be spoken by Germanv. The enemy could end the war

to-morrow by surrendering unconditionally. That he d°Ps not do so is due to one of two bad reasons. Either he deeires to be able to say that the German army is unbeaten and that the sacred soil of Prussia has been kept free from the invader's foot: or else he desires to save Germany from humiliation. The .Allies can with clear consciences refuse to accept either roa«on as valid. If tho German army is unbeaten, it is so only in tho sense that the knpek-out will not come until the next round; and the Allies, as tho trustees of freedom, dare not allow the tradition of an unbeaten Germany to do its prisonous work in tho

years to come. Xor can they listen to the plea of "No humiliation." Who is to blame it' the conditions essential to the peace of the world will be humiliating to Germany? Do we hesitate to put the criminal in prison on the ground that it will humiliate him? The pride of Germany must go, and the world fee's more strongly than ever that the great guilt of Germany will be greatly intensified if she resolves upon sacrificing still more millions of lives to her criminal pride. "We must not, as Mr Lloyd George said a few weeks ago, arm Germany with a real wi-ong by imposing upon hor a Brest-Litovsk treaty, but wo must destroy the German belief in the sword. If they look at the Western Front the Germans can see no gleam of hope. The offensive continues everywhere. Progress has been made north and south of Ghent, a wide drive has canried our lines further east between the Scheldt and the Sambre, and tho Americans have driven the enemy northwards, on the west bank of the Meuse, nearly to Stenay, which is eight miles from Montmedy, and only five miles from the main line of railway that runs through Montmedy, Sedan, and Hirson. The enemy is fighting well and stubbornly, but it is so plainly a losing fight that within a short space of time we may confidently expect to be celebrating the surrender that will end the war.