The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER. 16, 1917. POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 45, 16 November 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER. 16, 1917. POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND THE WAR

The defeat of tho French Government marks a somewhat disturbing failure on the part of French poli-timans-npt necessarily of the French nation-to rise to the. stan-v-l i conducfe ant * resolution which the war at its present critical stage demands. The supremo necessity of the moment for tho nations allied against Germany is that their political and military leaders should be free to concentrate undividedly upon tho war problems which during recent weeks havebeen in some respects seriously accentuated. At such a moment the removal of a Government is to be justified on no other ground than that of its demonstrated incapacity or failure for any reason to energetically perform its essential duty. No such indictment appears to have been made out against the Painlevo Cabinet in Franco. Its action in the measures lately taken to succour Italy and to arrange a better unity of Allied efforts was aporoved by a substantial majority, but it was afterwards heavily defeated in a division turning on the issue of internal policy. This looks perilously like ti-iflmg in face of the enemy, and it is possible that as much may have to be said presently of the political tension which is apparently threatened in Great Britain. This is not a time for petulant attacks on established authority or for washing political dirty linen. The simple demand of the hour is for undivided concentration on tho war, and anything that militates against this concentration is treason to the Allied cause. It is impossible to say meantime what will be the immediate outcome of the defeat of the French Government, or whether there are serious prospects of a political crisis arising ,in Britain. But in' its disclosed features tho existing state of affairs gives clear prominence to tho one definite peril by which the Allies aro confronted. So; as their determination is unimpaired they are in no danger of succumbing to the enemy's military blows, but they have to cope as well with a more insidious offensive' than he is developing with man and gun power in Italy—an offensive which aims at sapping their resolution and inducing them to accept a disastrous peace. It is lo this end that Germany has shaped her plans for a long time wast, and organised a vast machinery of treacherous intrigue. The result is to impose a test not merely on tho Allied armies, but on tho .'illicd nations, and in meeting that test tho Allies arc called upon to sedulously avoid internal dissensions and meet the enemy's efforts to undermine their fortitude as unflinchingly as their armies have met him in the field. Germany, according to M. PAtNLEVE, will make a tremendous effort in the hope of securing a decisive victory boforo the end of the year. It is plain enough that the enemy could only accomplish his purpose if the Allies fell a prey to war weariness, encouraged

filial l? Wsuc ' , aml allowad their resolution to falter The remedy for any tendency to such a disastrous retreat from the standard set in three years of heroic conflict is lobe Win a sfcraljhl forward presentation of tho tacts or the war, and a due appreciation oi tho consequences of giving way in its decisive crisis. Tho trend of the war is not indicated in the collapse of Russia and in the enemy's' recent successes against Italy It appoars instead in the colossal defeats inflicted upon the German armies in the Western theatre, in the assured prospect that these defeats will bo continued, and in the iailura of the submarine campaign, which means that Germany has failed to seriously cripple her fenemies already in the field and lost her last hope of preventing the addition of America s strength to that of the Western Allies as it is afc present constituted. On land and sea and in the air Germany in faced by forces she cannot hope to defeat by force of arms, and in the near future these forces will be heavily increased. It is a state of affairs which amply warrants the assertion that the Allies -:annot be defeated unless they defeat themselves. No man can say hc-w'mwh longer tho war will last, but granted that the Allies stand faithfully together Germany's decisive defeat is only a matter of time. Even if the Allies were not fighting with as> sured prospects they would find an ample motive for unfaltering effort in contemplating the consequences of defeat or of an inconclusive peace which would bo only defeat thinly disguised. Peace on these terms would be merely a truce with sabrerattling Prussian militarism entrenched and confirmed in power. Germany has not abandoned her schemes of world conquest and domination. Given peace on her own terms she would undoubtedly proceed to develop them at leisure and in renewed hope. Such a peace would bo but tho prelude to more terrible conflict than the war which is now devastating_ Europe. Thereis no reason to think that the nations upon whose action the future reign of liberty in the world depends are in danger of losing sight of these cardinal truths, or that they would dream of dishonouring their heroic dead and blasting their own future by seeking a craven peace. But the political events and symptoms reported to-day, and more especially tho defeat of the Government in France, invite reprobation as a departuro from that undivided concentration upon the prosecution of the war which is now more Wian ever necessary. The _ Allies as a military league are'taking the right line in working for closer unity and improved co-ordination. This must bo so obvious that is impossible to believe that any further political changea which may occur, cither in France or Britain, will lead to r.ny material departure from this course.