The Dominion. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1917. AN INSPIRING SPEECH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 62, 6 December 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1917. AN INSPIRING SPEECH

Equally as it bears on immediate events and in the more distant prospects it opens, President Wilt son's latest Messago to Congress is splendidly calculated to strengthen the Allies and to strike disnjay into the hearts of Germany's present rulers. It is strange now to reflect that not so very long ago fears were entertained that America's participation in the war and the presence of her delegates at the conference which will ultimately be assembled to define conditions of pcace might rather hamper than help tho Allies in tho attainment of their essential aims. Yet these fears wero harboured, and it is distinctly possible also that a belief that America would compel the Allies to modify their _ peace conditions was a factor in the otherwise reckless policy by which Germany brought her into .the war. The position now reached is that the most uncompromising declaration of war aims ever made on behalf of any Allied nation has como from the President of the United States. The declaration could hardly have been better timed. The danger now facing the Allies is not that Germany may contrive at the eleventh hour to force a military decision, but that she may get by intrigue and by undermining tho moral resolution of the Allied nations what she has failed to win by force of arms. Events in Russia and in Italy, though the latter nation has now made a splendid recovery, have shown how_ real tho danger is. The Allied na_tions_ havo to guard not merely against internal treason directly fomented by the enemy, but against any tendency to cloud the issues of the war and to popularise tho _ fatal idea that because it is a frightful carnival of bloodshed the interests of humanity would bo served by making peacc even at the cost of granting the Prussian militarists th eir own or inconclusive terms. Such ideas receive short shrifli from President Wilson. His speech is well described as a brilliant exposition of war purposes, filled with tho spirit of democracy. It will invigorate and hearten tho Allies, .not merely as an assurance that America will uso all her resources

in men and money to win the war, and allow nothing to divert her from that purpose, but on broader grounds. . America will so reinforco the Allies as to ensuro their victory, and the action now to be taken of declaring war on Austria is a lato proof of her determination to make her resources tell with full cffect. But it is even more important that President Wilson, speaking for tho American nation, has given clear shape to tho conditions that aro essential to ensure a durable peace, and, in his own phrase, to make the world safe for democracy. Ho reaches the heart of the matter in his statement that peace can only ,co'mo when the German people make it through rulers whom the world can trust. From first to last his speech 'is that of a man who sees a definite goal before him—a goal to be reached in no other way than by. I crushing German militarism and so making it possible to mete out justice to every nation. No fault need bo found with his observation that the final settlement must affect both enemies and friends. The essential aim of the Allies is to defeat a criminal nation and its vassals and establish a reign of liberty and justice. With America co-operating in the spirit nobly expressed by her President, tho attainment of these great ends is assured, and so long as their essential purpose is achieved the Allies can well afford to deal with details in a, spirit of accommodation. Naming _ Austria amongst the countries which must be assured of acccss to the sea, President Wilson indicates his opinion that Italy's war aims must be modified. These and other' details which may be raised are of secondary importance. The one point upon which the Allies cannot afford to in the slightest degree weaken or compromise is that there must bo no 'peace with Germany as she is at present constituted and until her unscrupulous aggression has been utterly defeated. This vital necessity has never been better omphasised than in the speech under notice, nor has any more_ convincing assurance ever been given that tho Allies will never halt or falter until they have in this matter fully gained their end.