New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-11
A Real Danger.


circumspcction at Washington than at the
nresent moment. President Wilson must
I've completely on his guard lest an honest
desire to assist i'm restoring peace in Eu-
rope may lead him into a grave and costly
blunder.
There is not the smallest chance Of
restoration of enduring peace in Europe
now. Any peace patched up to-day would
not mean real peace. but the victory Of
Germany No conceivable basis Of agree
ment could fail to take cognizance Of the
great conquests Of Germany in Europe
and any such recognition would be peril
Gus to the future of all the nations now
allied against the Germans.
On the battlefield Germany has failed to
get decision, while conquerng provinces
and winning campaigns. She can no long
ar hope for that great triumph which
was in the minds of her whole people one
wear ago. She is now precisely in the
position of Japan when the appeal Of
President Roosevelt led to the peace Of
Portsmouth, and no one Of the powers
fighting Germany can consent to- follow
the humiiating course Of Russia, which
was induced by internal revolution.
The main purpose of the grand alliance
against Germany Is to break the power OF
Prussian miitarsm. The French having
lived for more than forty years under the
shadow of German aggression are now
resolved to end the menace, if it costs
them three times as much IN life and
treasure as they have yet expended. The
British are determined as they were in
the Napoleonic time, to remove threat to
their imperial existence which they have
been slow to recognize, but viii be equally
slow to forget. For Russia peace now
means a generation Of humiliation and
the end Of the dearest dreams Of Slav
statesmen and patriots for centuries. For
Italy peace now means new perhaps
final postponement Of the vision Of a fully
reunited Italy.
Only Germany can now turn from war to
peace with perfect readiness. She has
conquered Belgium, Northern France and
Poland. She can demand indemnities for
territories she is willing TO eyacuate, and
these indemnities will DO much to defray
the cost Of war She has wrecked the in
dustrial regions Of her neighbors, while
her own factories and mines are intact.
All the gain Of war is hers, and by no
imaginable success can she add much to
the victory she has won by superior pre-
paredness and better organization.
If President Wilson should be persuaded
to lend his influence TO the making of
peace now there is not one chance i'm q
million that he would help the situation
There is not one chance In million that
my Of the foes Of Germany would listen
him. But there is no installing the
fact that since the profit in peace is wholly
German, all the opponents Of Germany
would regard the act as unfriendly and
see in the course of Mr.. Wilson the sue
cossful operation of German intrigue and
German manipulation.
The Kaiser and his ministers have
promised the German people peace this
fall I'm Germany and out German sym
pathizers have busily and confidently pro-
claimed the certainty that Russia would
he disposed OF before autumn and the war
ended before snow flew. German diplomacy
has already perceived that this cannot
be accomplished by any negotiation with
,he governments Of her enemies. Bat the
hope that skilful manipulation and agita-
ZION may persuade the peoples Of Russia
4oJ ,af,
cuments, to favor peace is disclosed in all
the recent socalistic documents which
have been permitted to see the light
The statesmen Of the nations allied
against Germany perceive clearly that
there can be no peace with Germany while
Germany is victorious. They recognize
that such a peace would be but a truce,
yielding to the Germans most Of all they
sought to obtain and leaving them in an
admirable position to resume the battle
Cor the rest hereafter They recognize.
as did the foes of Napoleon, that peace of
the permanent sort can be had only when
he true menace TO peace is removed, and
the true menace is the purpose and the
spirit Of the whole German people at the
present time.
This sentiment in Allied quarters the
Germans perceive. But they cherish the
hope that the people Of the fighting ma
lions, as opposed to the statesmen, have
become weary of war and will exercise
controlling influence. They hope, they
even believe, that the British, French and
Russian people viii overbear the states
men and force that inconclusive peace
which is the last hope Of Germany in the
present conflict. This is the extent Of
German ambition at the present time.
We in America viii do we'll to recognize