THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1915. WHISPERINGS OF PEACE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 430, 9 August 1915, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1915. WHISPERINGS OF PEACE.

\ i tl'.l.i. to-day, whirl professes to have an unimpeachable foundation. I as.--.erts that the Kaiser lias recently made overtures of peace to Russia through t'ne King of Denmark. While not I>y any means prepared to unreservedly accept, tins assertion as authentic, there is a good deal in German notions with regard to the sanctify oi treaties and mutual pledges that would suggest flic inipriiprictv of dismissing it as altogether improbable. Britain. France and Russia, on the out break of war, published to the world a decla ra I ion of' mutual support iinlii a petice was attained to which all lliret subscribe, each pledging itself to the others to seek neither peace nor territorial aggrandisement to which the others did not agree. To Ihe Gernmn diplomatic mind this is. of course, merely anol her "scrap of paper.’’ ami we can readily understand that, were Germany a part/ Io anything oi a like nature she would iitm- mi diflicidtx tn finding a wa\ of withdrawing from ii. did her own material t.dtauiage appear to die Itiir such a cmirse. It is also one cl rhe perversities of Germany’s estimate of other nations that, she r;inimt eoin-cix c that they, too, ma.v not be easily detached from solemn, cn gagemetds bv like i-onsidi'rations. There is mdiiiug, therefore, p, uegatnr the suggestion that Germany has made some sm-ji proposal as the otihle indicates. But, jf we are to accept. its w.c confident lx may, ihe public re allirmat ions ol the Allies' loyalty to one another, we may rest assured th;it the approach made to tim Czar at the Kaiser’s instigation met. with as prompl and definite a reject ion as the courtesies ami language in' diplomacy would admit. Apart altogether .from the spirit of loyalty to. and cotdimleme in. het Allies, of which Russia has irivi'D so many and so impressive manifestations, a separate peace with Germany yyoulii postpone indefinitely her own cetil nries-i dd ambi'iimi to secure an assured and permanent, outlet for her commerce by way of wtifiii waters. It may be thought that Germany would have but little hesitation in sacrificing her own ally. Turki-v. m order to placate L’ttssia. and 1 hat. so far as any consid.ratiim of that kind was conccrited. she would be ipllte ready to eom-ede ry on ('oust ant im iple as a price lor Russia’s wit hdrttyy ill from hostilities. But the Teutonic dreams of Astatic e.xp'iiisum. forbid any stu-h imtimi, for to their reaiisalii.li tin- ct>lll ri;l of the Bosphorus is tts essential as it is to the develop meiit of Russian t rade.

.talk of peace .boyveyer. has not ciiiiic through llm King of Denmark tt'ene. for another of to-day's mess.'tues tells us that, Ills Holiness the Pope purposes midcrlaking the task <>( l-ringing l Im be ligereiit s to terms, inviting the co-operation of neutrals. Inclmlcd among the neutrals will, of course, be the President of the I idled States, to whom, it may be temembered. His Holiness communicated some months back a message to the Americtii people, counselling them that "if they avoided doing anything lliai might prolong this struggle of nation against nation, then could America, by its- greatness and its inllueme. contribute much towards a rapid r-tiding of this terrible war." It lias been suggested that this message was elicited ft om the Pope through the wiles and solicitations of a Germam American, who was in realilv acting in the interests of Gcrmanv. ami who promptly made use of it in order to inilitenee the Americans against continuing their supply of muni (ions to the belligerents, of yy hich, of course by far the greater proportion wits going to the Allies. An Italian paper one of the organs ol the ( lerical party llutl was fayoiir able Io Austria and used everv cn deavour to keep Italy out ol the war app amis the peace movement, ami commends it to the careful con sideratio'i of Germany and every nation experiencing remorsce ol rnnsi letire." thus insinuating that < mmrany is iml ahum open to re preach. Again. «<■ are told I bill a high evcleci ast ma I authority declares that the time for a. peace pro pagamla is well chosen, as llm w ir was now languishing and the con Icmlmg nations tired. This, on the face of it, appears a rat her bold assertion. seeing that Britain, al, any rale, and probably France in a lesser degree, have only now reached a statre oi preparal ion I hat approaches any thing like the lull cllicu'iicy that is possible. The plea for early peace on the score <>f approaehinn exhaustion would thus appear to be entirely tn the interests of the AuslroGermaii combination, which, we arc all well convtnced. precipitated the war when it did for the very reason that the probable opponents would be caught unprepared. While credit inn tlm Vatican, as represent ing a great ('lunch, with a very sincere desire to sc>- Ihe world aga-m at peace, it is mifortumite v almost impossible tn lorgei that it is also a, centre ol wide political influence, and that, in this respect, its broader sympathies can scarcely lie in any other direction titan that ol the Great Power to which it has of late years locked for its most assured support. Having this in there is fair ground for hoping 1 hat the intervention of His Holiness, while i nlirely in keeping with his high sacerdotal ollice, may also be not altogether free, from Austrian suggestion, ainl may thus possibly indirectly indicate that she and her mnlhern ally arc beginning to seriously feel the strain. As |)r. E. J. Dillon wrote quite recently, "a plea for peace deliberately uttered l<‘-day is al bottimi a plea lor the Teutons and their al><>niinabl>- ("achings. and that- the Pope should have dejber-,-itely uttered if. will be I egret led not only by Ins friends mil side Ins chureli, but by many millions of liis faithful children within the fold."