The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1917. THE NEW MAP

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2973, 16 January 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1917. THE NEW MAP

The war aims of' the Allies, as officially stated in their reply, to Pkesident Wilson's Note, give some indication of the magnitude of the tremendous? ly responsible task of the congress which will be appointed to reconstruct the map of Europe after the Central Powers have been beaten to their knees. It will be the duty of the congress to draw up a great scheme for the reorganisation of Europe in accordance with the right of all peoples to the enjoyment of full security and free economic development. The congress will havo to devise territorial agreements and international arrangements designed to, guarantee land and sea frontiers against unjust attacks. It will have to frame measures that will give effect to the declared intentions of the Allies as summed up in the words restoration, restitution, liberation. Lokd •E.OSEBEKY recently stated that the problem which the Congress of Vienna had to grapple with after Napoleon had been defeated and sent to Elba looks liko child's play when compared with the task of the coming congress, which will have to give reality to the aims for which the Allies are fighting. The Congress of Vienna missed a great opportunity. Its duty was to arrange the disposition of all countries which Napoleon's fall had freed from French suzerainty. Europo was utterly tired of war, and hopes were entertained that a just and pennanont settlement would be reached, and that lasting peace would be secured by an agreement among tb© Powers to make collective war on any nation that broke the established harmony. For various roasons these expectations wore not realised. The settlement was not a stable one. Circumstances indicated that Europe was not then ready for tie due recognition of the forces of liberty and nationality to which now life had been'given by the struggle against Napoleon The mistakes made by the Congress of Vienna are not likely to bo repeated by the Powers now joined together for the purpose of frustrating Germany's plot to enslave Europo. The unity of the Allies is becoming more and more solid. German attempts to sow discord among them have hopelessly failed. They have already arrived at a clear understanding regarding the main features of the peace settlement. 'They havo frequently interchanged views in reference to the terms they intend to dictate, and their cooperation is so complete and harmonious that they havo been able to place before the world, in broad but quite ■ definite outline, the conditions they intend to insist upon when tho hour of negotiation comes. The information which they give in reply to President Wilson's request is sufficient to enable us to form a good general idea of the nature and extent of the alterations whioh are to be made in tho map. Tho Allies desire to secure a jußt and permanent settlement. They proposo to give due consideration to the principle- of nationality, and _to take effective measures to deprive Germany of the power .to plunge Europe into .another war. The wings of the German eagle must be closely clipped. Tho Allies have once more made it clear that they havo no intention of exterminating tho Germanic nations, but they are determined to freo the world from the ghastly nightmare of Prussian militarism.

Tho final expulsion of the Ottoman Empire will remove a plague spot from Europe. This corrupt and tyrannous Power has long peon tottering. Its cup of iniquity is now full to the.brim —it is overflowing. The dimensions of European Turkey were greatly diminished as the result of the recent Balkan war. It is in tho interests of justice, humanity, and Western civilisation that the pestilential misgoveminent and intrigue of the Turk should bo brought to an end as far as Europo is concerned, and out of Europe ho must go. The Allies recognise that the Balkan problem cannot be satisfactorily solved unless due regard is paid to the principle of nationality when the new territorial boundaries are being fixed. It has been said that this principle in its modorn form was born when Poland was partitioned. "Thenceforward," writes Lord l Acton, "there was a nation demanding to be united in a State." The Allies have promised to concede that just demand. A great wrong will thus be righted. The Noto sent to President Wilson does not make any diroct reference to the future of Asia Minor. But thero will have to be a clearing up in that part of thoworld. Tho long-drawn-out martyrdom of Armenia must be brought to an end, and many are hoping that the ouree of Turkish misrule will bo removed from Palestine. Tho Allies have declared their intention to see that justice is done to tho small nations. This decision is a vindication of a

fundamental principle of international morality which has been giWssly violated by Germany, and id will commend itself to ovcryono who realises the greatness of the debt which tho world owes to small communities. History proves that a country's contribution to civilisation does not depend upon its size. Mn. H. A. L. Fisher, Vicc-Chan-cclloL, of Sheffield University, reminds us that "almost everything which is most precious in our civilsation has come- from small States— the Old Testament, the Homeric poems, tho Attic and the Elizabethan drama, the art of the Italian Renaissance, tho common law of England. Nobody needs to bo told what humanity owes to Athene, Florence, Geneva, or Weimar. The world's debt to any ono of theso small' States far exceeds all that has issuod from the militant monarchies of Louis XIV, of Napoleon, of tho present Ejiperok of ; Germany." But tho German theory that might is right endangers the freedom and even the very existence of small States. Tho Germans believe in tho right of force, whereas the Allies are convinced that there can bo no durable peace until tho force of right is recognised in the sphere of international Velationships. Tho Germans tell us that they, too, are fighting for peace, but we know that any German-made peace would bo based, not on the liberation of tho oppressed, but on tho enslavement or extermination of nations that dare to resist Teutonic domination. A German peace would be that "kind of eternal peace" whioh (in the words of Iμmanuel Kant) "would be found in the great graveyard of tho human race.'' .