THE TERMS OF PEACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11894, 1 January 1917, Page 4

THE TERMS OF PEACE.

END OF THE HOHENZOLLEffIIS. j DISMEMBERMERT AND ALSO | DISARMAMENT, Remarkable interviews with famous representative Frenchmen on the question of peace terms have been obtained by Mr Arno Dosch-I seurof ami Mr Edward. Marshall, and have been cabled to New York. i

M.. Joseph Reinach, in one of these interviews," makes, the following emphatic declaration :■ —

"There must be no pence with the Hohenzollerns. It is they who have brought infamy on 'die German race, and ihev nuhi be dene away with. William 11. must be treated liko Napoleon. In fact, there was some excuse for Napoleon, coming, as he did, at the clumvx of the, greatest revolution in history. For the Kaiser there is no extenuating circumstance. Ho doliberatolv threw a peaeolul Europe into a state of war. Certainly he should receive no moro kindly treatment than Napoleon, against whom all the nations of' Europe combined. So we must first defeat the Kaiser on the battlefield, and then we must refuse to treat with the German people until they get no! of their curse, 'the house oir Honeuaol--1,-rn. How they seUlo their internal affairs is not our concern. Let them remain an Empire if they wish, though not an Empire of Germans dominating other races as formerly. Let them name the King of Bavaria Emperor it they like. Let them become a republic." DISMEMBERMENT. " How are they going to forco the 1 Germans to rid -themselves of the llohenzollerns?" he was asked. "Rv tolling them tnat is tho only wav ti-iev can have peace. "Wo have no purposo of annihilating the German people, iMt they may force us to the ai-remberment of their Empire if they norsist in standing by tho crimes or the Hohcnzollerns. Some time soon, net vet, as the German people are not. readv for it—wo should announce that we will not even consider the question of peace until the Hohcnzollerns tire removed. That will give the Germans something to 'think about. Jnsu let them draw tho oarallel with Napoleon M. Yves Guvot. interviewed by Mr Edward Marshall'for tho "Bun," endorses M. Reinaeh's view " How can the world best readjust itself after tho war ends so as to overcome tho bad effect of the vast waste «-• m<m and money?" Mr Marshall

iisked the great economist. M; Guyot replied:--" Readjustment only' will be possible if our victory is effective and complete. Tins victory, if it is to nrevent luture world disasters, must' have, as its rwtlt, the dismemberment of Germany and Aus-tria-Hungary. Tho Allies should act towards the German Emperor as the Allies of 1314-15 acted towards Napoleon After he had been vanquished, tho** who had been forced to light to the death in order to preserve their own from him declared, their firm determination not to treat with bun nor uuv member of his family. In the s-ame wav the present-day Allien must declare, as soon as they have won the v-r that they never will make peace throVdi treating with any member ot tho Hohonzollem family or by any member of the Hapsburg familyEND OF MILITARISM.

M Guvot elaborated this point with oroafc emphasis: "Prussian militarism onlv can be destroyed through the disKilution of the German Empire. As the empire now is constituted 1 russia must plav a predominant role in it because of "the territory which she occupies and the population which she represents. A method which will establish permanent peace therefore . necessarily will begin by reducing 1 russia on the oriental frontier to the situation which she had before the partition of Poland in 17"r2- On the other hand, tho Rhenish provinces and Westphalia have belonged to Prussia only since lSlo, and Prussia did not want them when she took them. These provinces represent the industrial clement of Prussia, and therefore represent her wealth-producing power. They must be accorded autonomy and liberated from Prussian militarism. Manover also must be detached from her. ft is the firm conviction of M. Guyot thai. Prussia will never ho made harmless till theso events are brought about. She will then play but a sma.il part m Germanv, and an infinitesimal part in European affairs. She has proved her v.n worthiness to play a great part. Even Germanv as a whole does not wish her to. So* pence should be signed bv the Allies with the representatives of the Bundesrath, with the exception of Prussian r< prosontativos. They should not he permitted to participate at all. "Will Germany a cam be accepted into the fellowship of honest nations during this generation or the next?" was ;\lr Marshall's next question. M. Guyot said: "There no longer will 'be a German Empire after this war ends, nor will there be an Aus-iro-TTungarian Empire, Therefore wo shall not find our-olvos confronting tho Governments which made this war. Tho Germans will bo very depressed after tho war, in the Europe which ihev will have turned against them : and ihev will be ruined, but at tho same time they will he resigned. The German is very plastic. He has borne the despotism o'f tho Kaiser, of tho Prussian junkers, of the military cii(|ue with tho greatest- docility. He will take his defeat in the same manner. His leaders will he furious, as ihwariV'd malefactors always are, but he, unfortunate that he is, a\ ill be resigned, and work hard to meet his terrible taxation which it will bo his lot in life to bear." DISARMAMENT. M. Gustavo Hervo had not less vital things to sav when.he was interviewed by Mr Desch-Flcurot: " What the great mass of French workmen want as a sequel to this war is disarmament. They want war to become impossible. To 'make this condition lasting, they believe in the creating of an international gendarmerie, a constabulary maintained by all tho States of Europe, which would automatically turn in a body against tho first! Statethat became unruly or aggressive. That's what tho French workmen want —freedom, not only for themselves, but for everyone in Europe, and to get that freedom they are willing to go on fighting as long as necessary." American expert opinion regarding Austria is reflected in the statement of Mr Frank H. Simons, of tho Now York "Tribune," who foreshadows tho partition by tho Allies of AustroIlungary, with a loss to Austria, of 15,000,000 of her polyglot population, tho Tyrol (tho southern half), the coastlands (with Trieste) and Dalmatia (with tho islands of tho Adriatic, but! diminished by a thin paring left for Serbia) going to Italy; this thin paring of Dalmatia south of the mouth of the Naronta Rivar, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and a portion of Slavonia to Serbia; Transylvania, Bukovina and the Banat of Temesver to Rumania] and Galicia to Russia.