The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1918. THE ALLIED AIMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 89, 8 January 1918, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1918. THE ALLIED AIMS

» The speech on war aims delivered by Mn. Lloyd Geouok on Saturday commands attention nqt only as defining the irreducible minimum of tho terms on which the Allies are prepared to end the war, but as a masterly presentation of the justice 'and cause for which Britain and her Allies are fighting. Unless the rulers 'and people of enemy countries are very obtuse, this frank statement should serve also to correct any delusive hopes they may have, based upon the degree of good fortune which has attended them during the past year in Russia, and during its later months in Italy. It is quite true, as an American correspondent points out, that Mil. Lloyd George, has added little on this occasion to his previous utterances. Equally as a vindication of Allied aims and as an'indictment of the enemy this momentous speech owes its force first and foremost to its simple and straightforward apileal to well-established facts. It is still more important, however, on account of the firm assurance it conveys that issues which tho Allies have from tho outset regarded as vital are not less vital to-day, and that in spite of temporary set-backs they are as determined as ever that the war shall only bo concluded on terms compatible with justice and morality. The effect of the speech is in fact to visibly erect a high barrier across the road which the enemy no doubt thought events in Russia and Italy had opened before him. Germany has at all times studiously avoided a frank and open discussion of tho merits of the .war, for tho obvious reason that the inevitable result of such a discussion would bo to confirm her infamy. She hoped at first to overwhelm hor enemies.by brute force. That hope defeated, nothing remained but to concentrate her energies upon tiring them out and inducing them to accept conditions of peace determined solely by their necessity of obtaihing relief from an intolerable strain of war. In one phase; as in the other, her single hope was that brute forco might triumph over public right and international justice, and that her enemies might be compelled to condone her lawless attempt to enslave Europe and the atrocious crimes which have marked her conduct of the war.

Tho statement of terms made by Count Czernin .at Brest Litovsk in itself shows .quite clearly where Germany stands. ' Acting as her mouthpiece, the Austrian Foreign Minister not only demanded immunity for all the crimes which Germany and her vassals have committed in violation of international law, but outlined other proposals' which must have appeared clearly to the dullest perception as basely hypocritical. The Central Powers, he stated, did not intend to violently annex the regions 6ccupied by them during the war, and had no intention of depriving of its political independence any nation which had such independence. In the negotiations which immediately fol- ' lowed tho Central Empires gave tho )ie to their own professions by flatly declining even to consider the evacuation of the Russian territories in their occupation. There is hero a further demonstration if such wero needed of the fact that Germany's assurances are worth £o-day precisely what 'they wore worth when she guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium. What Mn. Lloyd Georqe has done in the spcech under notice is to set this spectacle of infamy and degradation in clear contrast with tho just and honourable aims of tho Allies. Germany, as she is now governed and dominated, has no purpose which will bear the light of day. 1 The Allies have none which they are not prepared to defend oil every'ground of reason and justice and of regard for human welfare, and happiness. It was never so plain as it is now, with the British Prime Minister's speech to set against Germany's latest act of self-revelation that peaco and security can never return until all that Germany stands for has been utterly overthrown. Meantime, amongst its other effects, the British Prime Minister's statement should have a steadying influence on Russia—it is reported to-day that it has been welcomed and approved by tho Bolshevik representatives in London—and certainly it finally answers the. contention which has been raised at times by British critics that tho Allies are unduly secretive in regard to their aims and the conditions on which they are prepared to make peace. No franker statement was ever made on behalf of a nation at war.