Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1918. THE PEACE OFFENSIVE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14646, 2 July 1918, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1918. THE PEACE OFFENSIVE.

OFFENSIVE..... ; Tha£ the Germans have iv peacg o'ftensiYc just as definite and just a* skilfully planned as their military offensive is fully evident. The statement put forward to-<lay on behalf of the panGermans is part of. the scheme.. It is. a gigantic bluff, liko most of the utterances from ■ Berlin. • Though • accompanied ;by tho most militant' declarations; and with vahigloripus • boasts of victory ./which nobody elso admits, the Kaiser $nidi his agents, royal andf poiisicjti, talk peace almost every time. they/, open, their niouthe. It is the one dojftinant thought in Germany, and the ffch& dominant desire of the Hohenz&lern? how that they realise a. military trvjimpn over the Allied nations is impossible of. accomplishment. The German peace offensive aims at inspiring peace tfclk in the newspapers of Allied" JljPcL \neutral countries, and its, authors are npt itaihe loast discouraged because most of such, comment is frankly-hostile to, anylmmg. short of. a decisive Allied' victory. I They hope, to create fpeacQ dwcoissi^ns. aid b^eljieve that if: such take place ther/9 wfuT ways be a section of the population Vhich may be turned .to pacifist views. TJKhe statement that Hindenburg, realises that the military offeiisiye cannot win yiie Avav;,ahd, that Ludendorff. is convinced! otherwiseand insists, on such outrageous teiTOs aa' are. outlined;: in. the cable ) message, is simply a. specious move l<o get the jieople of Allied countries: jto re-bpen consideration of the subjeofc of peace. If that resulted, and GermAny saw the slightest tendency to. discuss terms, she would spring other proposals. The pan-German extravagances would 1 soon be dropped. , 5 the peace propaganda, nroceeds on tMio basi^ of a Dutch auction. Tlie high&st possible price is: to be exacted; wlwj will bid lower 1 It is well known tl at the Imperial auctioneer will come c .own in his price; that lie would even IVe prepared to go a^ faV.ae the restoration of ' the ocoupie4! ai'eas of } *rance,/and Italy, provided '. that no quei itip^is were askedi as to what he intends 4,Jto do < \n Kussia and Rumania. The §ct is, the Western situation must be,cam iifgci-ave alarm fo tho German- comh,\aiod. Kuhlmann,, without a doubt, lw>:J it the cat out of. tho bag, just'as plainly as Ij>itclinowsjiy did, over' the factfr r elatirig to the arigiii oFtlie war." Three months of maximum military, effort have failed to win ground of vital impbrtunc c; to split the French andi Bntia))^ armh! S, to win Channel ports, to intimidate o r hinder America, or in.. any way to aff set Allied v morale; Meantime America, hg s r plahkedi her first millipii men iiu^p Europe" and I more are rapidly following.' Thi 5 summer solstice is past and the days will soon Lonnnence to shorten and an tmu and winter draw near. Anothei* tluee months and Germany trill be falped with the hardships of another \rin«er campaign as M-ell as the fact. that over-

whelming American forces will be present in the spring of 1919. It is now or. never Avith her, and if the projected offensive, hourly expected, fails, as her other efforts have done, then ; thfe prospeets of. obtaining a favorable decision jire. hopelcssi ' Perhaps : it Avbiild be 1 too n'lucH to say -that. Ml hopes 'of -Avinning on tlie!;West ; have : been'; absolutely aban-: doneil by .the militarists. To a superstitious people a miracle is aHvays possible, and Germany still hopes agjiinst lu>po for the iniracle. Once or. twice it has nearly happened. At the same time the high command sets peace tnlk afloat to feel the temper of the Allies. Let thero be any official indication of & willingness to throw Russia and Rumania to the tender mercies of the Teuton, and the. Kaiser would very quickly bring down concrete and exceedingly tempting terms of peace. "The people of Ger^ many," says an American writer, "have probably hadi all they Avant of warfare for the rest of their natural Ha-cs, but Wilhelnf, whose life purpose has been the biggest personal chapter in history, looks to the future and sees a Pnißsoltussian Empire, founded! by his efforts, and' glowing to such strength as to be able to dominate all Europe.' But he is mistaken. America was not in a hurry (o enter this Avar, but Arill be in no hurry to get out of it before feeling sure that justice Avill be done to all peoples, small as Avell as great, Slav as Avell at Latin, Flemish, Walloon and Saxon." Let the Germans, talk peace and, think peace, .'I will make no difference. The AngloSaxon race has determined that the war must go on until defeat is definitely acknowledged and 1 the Avorld can be made safe for democracy. So long as the panGermans talk of retaining Belgium and Northern France, and imposing other impossible conditions, such, for instance, as the handing over of the British Navy, they are simply hardening the determination of the Entente nations to see the Avar out to a conclusive finish.