New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-30

the Germans hold Belgium TO ransom
The struggle that has gone on in Europe
fer seventeen months is not war Of the
cid sort. 1t is not battle Of rival nations
and Jealous peoples. 1t is a defence Of
mankind and liberty by all men against a
German assault German success, the
smallest profit retained by Prussia in con-
sequence Of her crimes, would be at once
reproach and a menace; 1t would be for
Prussia an incentive TO new violence, to
the world an open wound and another Al
sace-Lorraine.
There can be no peace and no thought OF
peace until the German armies have re-
passed the Belgian frontier, until they
have gone with nothing but their broken
ranks and mountain-high casualty lists
to show for their offending 1t is not
necessary that Germany should be raw
aged; it is not essential to human happi-
ress that there be repeated in Cologne or
in Berlin what happened in Louvain or
Rheims. 1t is not for more brutality that
the world cries out. But it is essential
that there shall be no reward, no profit, no
gain TO the Germans for their brutal
crimes.
Peace is not merely a thing impossible,
but a thing undesirable for Europe, for
America, while Germans are left in posi-
ton to tyrannize over any people or any
race. The Belgians, the Serbs, the people
or Alsace-Lorraine-th must be freed.
But the case of Belgium is vital. Had
Germany fought war as in 1870, had she
struck at her rivals as she struck before,
ell mankind would to-day feel for the Ger
mans admiration and sympathy-admira-
ton for their bravery and for their great
military achievements, sympathy for their.
sufferings. Instead, there is a great and
general loathing, which is worldwide, and
passes in intensity anything in human his
tory.
The time has come in the Great War
when right and justice and humanity are
to be indicated. German defeat is already
a thing that can be disguised only from
the careless and the thoughtless. For the
whole German people the war has become
an agony and a nightmare, and there Is.
left hardly home that does not feel the
cost in life and suffering of the dream OF
world empire and the lust for supremacy.
A few more months and there will be no.
shadow of doubt anywhere as TO the,
situation in Europe OF as to the outcome
of the war. Germany has been defeated
and in her suffering she is now turning
eagerly toward peace.
That peace should be desired by all men,
but not until it is possible to procure a
peace that will be a settlement, not until
Il is possible to write a peace which for
hereafter will remain as a.
" arning to those who seek to set aside the
laws of humanity, and because they are
strong to trample in the mire and ashes
the weak, the women and the children. No
such peace is possible while the martyr
dom of Belgium endures and the Germans
speak as masters in King Albert's land.
Many thousands of Americans who have
with France and with Brit
ain, who have recognized that the cause of
the Allies was the cause Of civilization
and Justice. the cause of American de-
mocracy as we'll as of European, earnestly
hone that France and Britain will stick to
the task so nobly begun until the work is
done and the foulest assault upon civiliza
ton that history records has been thrust
back. until those who sought by violence
and by crime to conquer the world are re
turned home, empty and stricken.
The task of Great Britain and France
now is the task that confronted the North
in 1861. The issue of the Civil War was
assured, if politics did not prevent what
aims had made possible. America perse-
vered and a nation was restored and the
blight of slavery abolished 1t is for
France and England to persevere now.
that there may be an end, not truce-a
decision, not a postponement. And Bel
gium is the test of all tests. Who can de
sire peace while there is left one man of
German allegiance on Belgian SOIL 10 per
petuate the regime that has written its
characters upon the temples and the homes
of the Belgian people?
That moose which is at the German neck
should be frightened, not loosened that
hand which is at the throat Of German
economic and commercial life should be
contracted, not slackened, until Belgium IS
freed. Then. and only then, can it be pos
sible or honorable or decent to talk of
peace. 1t is a hopeful sign that Germany
!, talking peace--iS a sign that the mad
ness is passing that the lust and fury and
violence are vanishing. But it is to the
Belgian field that the world must look for
proof that peace is possible. If the war
has been a war for civilization, as France
and Britain have declared, there can be no
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