GREAT SURRENDERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 5

GREAT SURRENDERS

■ ■ "' - ——*- — HISTORIC OBJECT LESSONS ORIGIN OF INDEMNITIES , In ancient times a nation defeated ii war was left "with nothing but its eye: to weep with,"" to quote the grim eaying attributed to Bismarck, but actually uttered' 'by Sheridan, the. ruthless raider of the Shenandoah Valley. Indeed,' when such prototypes of the' predatory power of Germany as Ashur,' or such world-con-querors as Tamerlane were victorious, a defeated people coilld hardly hope'-to save even.their eyes, unless a slave market was close'at hand to receive them as merchandise. Modern ideas of 'civilised warfare, which-began to be realised in .'Europe after the horrors of the Thirty Years' War, and the hideous revolt of the Ukraine peasantry under Hmblnitski, insisted that the conquered people might ransom their lives by the payment of aii indemnity. ,'Thus., the indemnity; a punitive penalty.' represented a : - great step forward in'the process of mitigating the terrors of warfare. : : - ■ ■ '■ In all the great surrenders'of modern history, a defeated nation hns had to pay a price for its folly or ill-fortime. In the dynastic wars "of the eighteenth-cen-tury such payments ware insignificant. War.had become a princely game, conducted by small and highly-trained armies, amV the gamesters, were content with " modest'stakes. But Napoleon the-.Great, the first 'commander of a nntion in nrms '.which'" had to lire'on the enemy's country, exacted indemnities out of all proportion to anything of the kind'in previous wars. Ho was in fact compelled to do so to help'pay'for the cost of hisgrandiose military adventures: ■ ' ;.-../. '■■■ . .- .'...'. j.ena and Waterltfo". ..'.",'■'. The Peace of Tilsit (1807) was 'inmost ignominious eurrender Prussia had . .ever experienced. The crushing defeats at Jena and Auerstadt, followedvby disgraceful capitulations of troops and fortresses, left Frederick William 111 at the mercy of the greatest world-conquaror since Alexander the Great. Half his kingdom was- taken away, • and a war indemnity of was exuded.' How the War of Liberation ..was worked for-by- Stein and Hardenberg is a familiar story. The Prussian habit of evading.a promise was exemplified-in-the reorganisation of. the .Prussian: Army by Scharnhoret and Gneisenau, when the condition' imposed by N,apolepn, that it should not- exceed 42,000 men, was evaded by. replacing each body of men by another ae soon as it had been trained. (It.'.will be necessary for the Allies to watch the working out of the armistice 'conditions very carefully, for all through history the German "has been notorious for breaking, the 'most solemn promises.) Between'lßl3 and the Battle of Waterloo/Prussia-lost 130,000 men and strained her financial resources to the utmost, and 6ho could never have succeeded in throwing off'the Napoleonic yoke but for the silent, invisible, übiquitous help of British',sea-power,'.the determining factor in the final .stages of the world-struggle, though no great sea batLc was fought after Trafalgar. : . Waterloo was, of course, -\the end "or the Napoleonic wairs of world-conquest. Even if he had won the battle, ; which saw the destruction* of ' the Imperial Guard, the inevitable i°suo would only have been postponed, for the man-power of France and her economic power. svere approaching exhaustion. Napoleon s sec r ond abdication Vas announced,in the' following terms:— i '. ■. "Frenchmen!'ln commencing the war to maintain the .nationnl'independence, I counted upon the reunion, of all the efforts, of the entire, will, and upon the cooperation of-all the authorities of France. I was justified in' hoping for success, and I defied all the declarations of the Powtrs allied against ' me. . Circumstances seem changed. "I ofFoc myself in sacrifice to the hatred, of the enemies of France; may they lie-sincere in their declarations' and' that my person only is tho object of their designs! My political cnreer'is terminated,'and', I proclaim my son, under the title of Napoloon 11, Emperor of tho French. The Ministers actually in power will form the provisional council of the Government. The concern which I.feel for 'my son urges me to 'bid the Chambers to organise without delay the regency by a: law. ■ Unite, yourselves for. the public safety and to remain n.n independent.na'ln July, 1915, the Allies entered Paris, and France was occupied for two and a half years by 300,000 of their troops. Tho total'of the indemnities paid by France was. £61,400,000. ' Seven.. hundred million francs was paid as p. contribution to the war bills of the Allies; England received 123 millions, Russia 100 millions, Austria 112 millions, Prussia 150 millions (being on the make, ae usual), while the remainder was distributed among the lesser Powers: In addition to tin? specific war. indemnity, 753 million francs was paid to tho four grent Allied Powers to compensate them for spoliations and damages, and 100 millions on' tho same score to the smaller nations. Of these further sums Prussia got the jackal's/share as well as the eagle's. .. ■■'/■' Lee and Grant. The surrender of Lee to Gratyt was the close of the American Civil War, a fratricidal struggle, which provides. no precedents for a war .between nations. The North did not rejoice at. its victory over the South so-that the task of reconciliation) and reconstruction might begin at once. Nothing could have been finer than: the nnitimrcourtesy of the two great leaden who arranged the cessation of hostilities. ' - . ,-,;'' The surrenders at Saxiowa and sedan are'not enses comparable with the present capitulation. Sedan saw the extinction of a dynasty, not the fall of a,nation. Later on France was compelled to surrender, and we were reminded in a series, of articles published in this journal of the way in .which the brutal Prussians inflicted the maximum .of humiliation on a- nation which.'had begun too late to organise its national powers of. resistance. Even the radio-active intelligence of Gambetta and his' Southern driving powers could hot accomplish impossibilities. Bbniwck himself admired Gambetta, and a meeting would have been arranged between them if the latter had consented to say nothing about AleaceLorraine. The war indemnity of 000 000 exacted- by the German victors was on the Napoleonic scale, and was intended, furthermore, to prove that warfare, Prussia's chief national industry, wns a-profitable, business. . ..- • ■.-. There is no comparison possible between the personalities of Napoleon the Great and the megalomaniac showman of himself who has resigned his crown under compulsion, not as a free act. of »race. Napoleon was not only a master of the art and science of war—as such his many-sided mind... has been clearly read by Marshal-Foch-but also one of-the greatest .administrators who ever lived. His work-in peace is still part of the foundations of > the -French polity. It is certain that he would never have consented to such atrocious treatment of prisoners of war and of the people -of occupied, territories, as have disgraced the name of Germany for ever. If he were living, - what counsel, would he give to us as to the conditions ot Germany's surrender? Surely he would say: "Do not omit to impose a punitive fine equal to the crimes of this felon people. There is no other way to convince them that their national industry is an anachronism. Make them pay for tho privilege of retaining eome vestiges of the power they .used, war lords and populace aliko, for the achievement of such sinister purposes. Above all. see to it that all the .ermiehce conditions imposed are faithfully carried out. lney will cheat you if they can. as they cheated mo-after I, with foolish generosity, had reduced the Prussian indemnity. There was nothing in iny career I regret more'than that act of mercy to a merci-

Wss race." • Admiral SimsTspeafcinß at the Newspaper Conference recently, dropped into a rather startling usido. He liao liepn describing i.ow the snbmnrino was finally conquered, and how the pans whiff proved "effecti.'e had been elaborated by the British sailors. "I supnose." he added, "the matter is not in my department, but that never stopped m'o snyinjs what I thought, and I say that all these' submarine devices had been inaugurated under Admiral Jellicoe just before he was fired out.' That was the generous tribute of one sailor to another whom ho believed to have been hardly used, and .as one- present at the dinner I can testify that the blunt indiscretion caused no little sensn-