GREAT MISTAKE OF PEACE CONFERENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15223, 22 May 1920, Page 6

GREAT MISTAKE OF PEACE CONFERENCE.

1 PARIS, March 20 — Gen. D. Castelnau, ' famous war hero and now president of ' the French Army Commission, m which . capacity he serves as the principal link '< t between the government and Marshal [ Foch, has given an exclusive . interview ' on the present situation m Germany. . By ! virtue of his position, he has more liberty) ' even than the gererallssimo to express his ' views for publication. Questions pre- >■ sented to the general before his depart- . I ure for Brussels were answered by telei graph to the correspondent at Paris f from the Belgian capital. The general : ! ; begins: . I; "We must look the danger m the face! ! but nothing- could be more disastrous now 1 • than to lose coolness of judgment. Thoj I revolution m Germany could have been 5 a surprise only to idealists -ami vision- j ) aries, especially m the new world, who; t never realised how matters actually f i stood . We have always expected a sudr den outbreak by the military party m - Germany. The present revolution should! J make clear to everyone the true, spirit! p of Germany-Mhat spirit has existed al--1 ways. i "The worst fault of statesmen at the peace conference was that they ignorea 5 the real spirit of the enemy and cori"---r structed peace on illusions. They per--3 suaded themselves that' the real demoi cratlc spirit existed— the most dangerous i Utopian fallacy, as now has been re- ) proved. Our negotiators thought that the 1 force of their own confidence m (lemo--2 cracy would suffice to overthrow all ihe - traditions of the German race. Rest asD sureel, a nation learns but slowly, even t to modify its convictions. "Our second grave fault was not to , persaude the Germans of their defeat. . They did not really believe we had beaif en them. During the peace conference, I' we die! not act m such a way ns to make j them revise that opinion. Politically, - the entire German Empire was preserved i but economically it was smashed. The t main theme should have been Just the op--1 posite. j "Furthermore, the armistice, while it s 'sanctioned the maritime ruin, of Germany, permitted her army' legions to re. turn' with the honors of war. They went home with the appearance of having successfully repulsed an attack by thier enemies. We ourselves gave semblance to the German allegations by refusing actually to take over the left bank of the Rhine, by solemnly recognising m the Treaty of Versailles the political unity of Germany, and later permitting the Germans to hope that our occupation of the Rhine provinces would be of only short duration. "Until now, Germany has escaped the fulfilment of the military clauses of the treaty. Not yet has she Submitted to the reduction of her effectives which we demanded. It is therefore my hope that this resolution will now stir up all the Allies by revealing to. them the fact. Germany neither has been crushed, dismembered nor demobilised. She remains a nation of more than 60,000,000 out-and-out militarists." : To the question. "Does the old military spirit flourish- generally?'! General Castelnau replied: "The discipline of the German army still remains perfect. The troops -revere and obey their Officers. "Perhaps Germany does not want a new war just now: But she considers v indisputable that she should possess important military forces. She Intends to pursue military, preparations and has. tho most important factor of military power —formidable masses of men fit and ready for mobilisation." Apropos of President's Wilson's suggestion of French militarism, the general said: ■ ' "A militaristic country is not a country which possesses an army, but an army which possesses a country. The German Empire, before the war, was possessed by the Prussian army. I consider Germany remains *v powerful militarist nation. Now I ask you to tell me if it is correct to call France militaristic? The present mentality of Germany— of which I hope the revolution now has convinced the Allies— is not for our pleasure. Our strong military measures impede our economic and social reconstruction. Our chief de- ' sire is to reduce our effectives, it is not amusing to be accused by President Wilson of being imperialistic. But alas iti is a long way to Washington. We there- ; fore keep a strong army, not from, selfish motives, but m order to keep the ' world at peace— and enforce the completion of Germany's disarmament. { As to the I^aue of Nations, it is not yet a material force. I don't know if it will ever become a practical institution. To the question "Will a triumph of tho Spartacans m Germany develop Bolshevism throughout the world?" Gen De Castelnau replied: "Most certainly we success of the Spartacans will e.n,sourage extremists everywhere, although I don't think Bolshevism will gpyeaa over tne globe. I know the Slavic character it is so totally deferent from the Latin .' Anglo-Sason that I am persuaded the Russian doctrine will not triumph over these countries. But we must remain confident, calm and strong, ana above all, remember a. fact that we otten are miSlf^h 0 *° ?m < n »™iy, that >ye were - indeed the winners O f the war," j