WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1918 GERMANY AND PEACE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 2 January 1918, Page 4

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1918 GERMANY AND PEACE.

I The constant references, inspired by Germany, to the possibility of peace are apt to create the impression that peace is in some way within our grasp if we choose to accept it. But really nothing has happened to cause us to reduce the demands put forward in 1914. The invasion of Belgium has not become any less of an outrage because hitherto we have not been able to drive the Germans out of Belgium. And, honor apart, Britain's t safety is no less threatened in 1917 than it was in 1914, despite all Germany's protests as to her good intentions. Tfie question for us to decide is whether, granted we £an defeat Germany so decisively as to impose our own terms upon her—and military experts assure us that we can do so if we are willing to * make the necessary sacrifices—it is just and expedient for us to prosecute the war to that point*. The answer to this question must be a most emphatic "Yes:"- If we failed to do so -we should be false to ourselves, to. our children and to civilisation itself. Whatever aim induced Germany to start the war, whether it was to secure industrial supremacy in Europe, or a Berlin to Bagdad protectorate, or a great Colonial Empire cutting Africa in half, its realisation would be fatal to European freedom. Each of these objects was advocated by representa-; tive Germans, and none of them has yet been renounced. Only the other day an article was published in Germany maintaining that the possession of-Samoa and other islands of the Pacific was essential in order that GerI man naval forces could threaten Australia, Japan and the western coasts of North and South America. No one can doubt for a moment that if Germany is allowed to retain her colonial possessions she will use them as centres from which trouble will spread to all the adjoining countries. But the Kaiser and the German leaders constantly protest that Germany did not want the war to begin with, and that now it is not her but the Allies who persist in carrying it on. This assertion is worth examination, since it is made so often and with such an air of sincerity that it may convince some persons. We may admit that Germany fcfcj^jgnt the war in the sense that people desire though some are than others in **• But the not only j the junkers, including in the means, The doc-

[itrine -that iforce is tlie only thing that '•matters in. international affairs was '-firmly held by practically all Germans. i When ;a .people hold such views, and also .possess an army which they rightly believe to be the best in the world, war is the inevitable outcome unless every dispute is settled by the adversary yielding. Germany had had "several rebuffs, in Morocco and elsewhere, when she tried to impose her will on other nations. She was then mot Teady" to fight, and so bore the diplomatic defeat, resolving that next 'time she would be better prepared and would strike immediately her demands were not accepted in full. In private life a man who loads himself with alcohol and then goes out looking for trouble will almost certainly find it, and the protest that the other man was the aggressor will meet with little sympathy from the magistrate next morning. So when the Germans intoxicated themselves with dreams of world dominion war was sure to result, and the verdict of history will be that Germany willed the war. So far as Britain is concerned the suggestion that she planned the war is ludicrous. Even the wildest imperialist had no desire to extend our territory, and if our object was to restrict Germany's increasing trade it would have been "far (simpler to impose a tariff on German goods than to enter on a military conflict for, which we were totally unprepared. If there is any; guilt in continuing, the conflict at present the Allies will shoulder it. though they consider that the guilt would be caused if they ceased the war before Germany "has been rendered powerless to continue as a menace to the liberties of the whole world. Germany knows that she has failed to gain her ends, and ;is anxious to end the fighting while still in possession of sufficient

resources to prepare for a new war, 'but the Allies prefer to make it a fight to a finish. Germany talks much of peace, for which she eagerly longs, but she has not yet offered a single concession in an open and official way, though various suggestions have been •made as feelers through sympathetic neutrals. The Allies have been wise enough to ignore these, and will continue to make the sacrifices necessary to secure a decisive victory,, even if it takes a long time yet to achieve it.