Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1918. A PEACE DRIVE NEXT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14667, 26 July 1918, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1918. A PEACE DRIVE NEXT.

The Germans have lost -no time m following up^their failure at the Marue) with peace overtures. These,, it\jb,'ie-j ported,, ;ai'e-being;'made thrbu^h Spain,! and contain certain defbiites proposals, | hone of, which, we venture to say, ,will! prove acceptable to the $llies. As^firsfr item on the list the Buns actually hayothe audacity (to propose: ,V3^ -annexa- 1 tions oi\ indiemnities'.? ?--:.i'Th«f- was thoj basis upon which tho treaty 1 of Brest Litovsk was .founded,, arid -how has it been kept? Gerjmairy, i^e*d"ia^ly tJiati ;waa,?signed and .jßuisia, had be, • cpme demobilised.,. proceeded ;.to annex , the Baltic provinces; and imposed heavy 1 ; oxactiCne upon the ,peopler '.in^ variousj E3^ cjf R^^a. '^heK^l^, with, uiiocmjpealed bribery of:. agente. .like Lenin 1 and Trotsky, got the : simple i Russian folk down* with peacp:taljft and: then; proced^jdi to 'rifle , th^n/.vpo^eits.''' \ feet will/find ' he'jiaj? different.fc&.to jeal w f tb/ 'Wk to© P,»9pie of. the race and any .suggestions ofe 'fno .an-, riexations or indemnities," after the Russian experience, will be thrown back 111 Iris face. So M'ith the. otfher items i on the pi^raniine. •'Treaties with Russia and Rumania, not tor bo questioned." If this were conceded and {: Germany, gave, way on all.othfcr.points,» Germany would have won the\ war arid the Allies' sacrifices would have been m vain. Russia's regeneration and! . freedom from enslavement by the Hun is as vital to civilisation as the restoration of Belgium. The ouprrreption thnt tq.c Russian nucstion (ciunot/ be I'tor-ene'cl becuusu

self-determination of their future has • been.* effected by the ..people of Russia is \ just an impudent pretension. that will • fool; no one. ?.As^ for -Rumania, we know ■howilast winter, -^ough' deserted -by. the Russian troops'on her flanks >and threat/ .ened- m , the • rear .; by a ..Bolshevik^; declaration ofy -war -she stood'C stoutly, -iut was won iover to by, a /promise- to her vthatjjthey might expect lenient terms. Negotiations were begun, and* onco ■ Rumania. j^was v entangled xin the -began to ; increase their exorbitant demands. They ennexed the * -greater "*-part;' of the; country and made requisitions v on the .invaded . territory: to the' extent of over- 50 'millions sterling. Now Aye learn that the- mem : .bersij of the . Gkivernmeht, which waTs; promised lenient -. terms,"*' are i being* • iii-; dieted /by .pro-Germans' for treason and threatened ..with' execution. IN.O 'better illustration . could be imagined tof what awaits ' those . who go -: into t negotiation with- 'Germany.- '»■ Then- "these ' ridiculous proposals set out- that the fate of •Belgium and the l*f uture - of the should be settled* at the peace .conference, also such small' matters as tne freedom of the seas, the dismantling of Gibraltar, .and . ]the defences of '• Suez, whilst access 'to coaliiig stations is made one- of the cardinal points 'of settlement, and another is the settlement of s '-tho colonial ' question on ' the basis of the status quo, which, simply means that Samoa, New Guinea, and the African colonies go back to Germany. Tho whole thing is preposterous,' and shows that the Huns are altogether unrepentant and still imagine themselves to be conquerors. The proposal is 1 made perhaps with ■•>; vthe idea that it will strike %he susceptibilities of some silly pacifist people 111 ' Anied' countries, • will make trouble', for the' governments, and perhaps "also to demonstrate ,tp ilie war- weary peoples of the '.Central Empires that the Gernjah Government i$ seeking to give them the pea<x> iney so ardently desire. Allied rejection -of the 'terms, represented as a desire to cryish'tiie Fatherland, will be used as an argument for imposing greater oacri-. ficea i upon the peoples of Germany and. Austria to nieet m furtherance of the ambition of the War Lords to dominate the earth. As Mr. Lansing, the American Secretary 'of State, paid m a speech the other day, that ambition was , .the cause of., war; it was .and is the central thought of Prussianism. "It excited the cupidity of the governing and wealthy classes of the Empire} it dazzled with its anticipated glories and by its promise of a boasted racial superiority the German millions, who were to be the instrument of achievement. With a devotion' and zeal worthy of better cause, they turned their energy into those channels which M r ould aid the ruling class. "We must go. on with the war/ added Mx\ Lansing "There is no other way. This task must not be left half done. We must not transmit to prosterity a legacy of blood and misery. Wo may m this great conflict go down into the valley of shadows because our foe is powerful and inured 1 to war. We must' be prepared jto meet disappointment and'temporary' reverse, but we must, ' with American spirit, rise above them? courageous hearts we must go forward until this war . is won." 'Mr Sidii'ey Dark, an Englishman, puts the matter perhaps a little more forcibly when he combats the idea promoted by Mr. Arthur Henderson and other Socialists that Germany should be admitted to the League; of Nations. ' He says emphatically that a militarist Germany cannot bb m it. "Christianity offers salvation to Bill Sikes. It invites him to join the communion of saints.' B.efpre, however, BUI Sikes can be'^ saved and admittedrto the brotherhood! he must restore his swag. "and surrender his jemmy/. So with Germany^' She lias robbed and killed and despoiled. She mwst'be compelled ,tp make ' reparatipn foir her wrong-dpjrig au<i to give for her f uijire V good behavior. President Wilson ' -realises tha,t' ' this'"' entails the t3isappear»ncG of the Junkers and the Hohenzollerns. It is ' excessively improbable that the German people will throw over tho militarists unless the German armies are soundly beiaten m the field. It follows, -therefore, that Germany must be defeated before the League of Nations is impossible. Peace by. negotiation how would* -''leave' militarism with its-p restige largely unimpaired. Militarism must go or law can never be established."