The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1916-05-25

Germany is not beaten in any sens
| that Napoleon was beaten at Water
loo or France at Sedan. Any such in
: depreciation of the German offers o
, peace is moonshine. Germany can &
on, If she has to. But there is n,
longer any prospect of winning any
thing commensurate with the effort
and there is very real danger that de
feat or exhaustion in the future ma,
destroy the credit of the army and oi
those leaders who would make Ger
many greater with the mass of the
people. Germany is willing to pay, il
sacrifice of a portion of what she has
seized, for the chance TO keep her fu.
ture intact and prepare for "The Day,
which has been postponed but not
foregone.
This is why peace proposals fall up
on deaf ears in Allied capitals. This
is why those who are most eager to
see real peace are most suspicious OF
any peace made now at the request OF
the nation which on every front stands
on foreign soil and so far is able to
bring forward fresh troops without
evident difficulty whenever new eff
fort is to be made. The mood of the
Allies now was the mood of Europe
in 1914, in 1915 of the North in 1864.
This mood entirely escapes our naive
Imediators, who think nothing Of inn
Iportance except to terminate the
slaughter Of to-day and are careless
whether such termination would be an
end or a postponement.
Germany has lost the present war
She is shouting the fact from the
housetops. She is ready for peace on
terms that give her next to nothing
for her great sacrifices. But why?
Because she desires to preserve the
possibility of resumption of her at
tack subsequently, when her diplomacy
shall have separated the nations
which, united, have baked her. She
desires to preserve the glory of her
army and to be able to enlist her
people by asserting that what was al
most accomplished in 1914 can be ac-
complished, say, in 1924.
The men who are fighting the Ger
mans are just as anxious to get them
selves out of the trenches as men can
be; but they are little more anxious
to keep their own boys out of these
trenches few years hence. There
fore they are willing to go on. Ger
many has lost war, but her enemies
have only in part won a war; they
have blocked, not convinced Germany.
They are fighting now to establish the
fact that German attack upon Eu
ropean civilization can never succeed,
and that the cost of it is beyond all
conceivable profit This, and not
peace terms is important; this, and
not peace terms, is the thing that pro
longs the war and will prolong it un-
til the Allied purpose is realized or
Allied strength fails.
1t is of the utmost Importance that
Americans should not permit them
selves to be taken in by the present
German campaign for peace or by
their own horror Of slaughter. If we
are to have durable peace after all
this struggle and sacrifice it can only
come when Germany renounces her
determination TO upset the balance in
the world. She has not renounced.
Peace now means a new war at no
distant date, because the Germans still
believe, and they have every reason to
believe, that what they have almost
accomplished this time they will ac-
complish next time.
This spells a continuation Of arma-
ments, a prolongation of that situa
ton which before the war had become
only an armed truce. 1t means that
the Eastern Question will be embalm
ed in the treaty of peace and the
problem of Alsace- Lorraine perpetual
ted. Ii means that we shall have
Europe still divided into alliances. II
means all this because the real issue
1f the war has not been settled. 1t has
been proven that Germany cannot de-
stroy European civilization and the
Of European congresses on
The battlefield this time. But no Ger
man has the smallest reason for
that he can do it in the fu
-ure, if his diplomacy makes the work
1f his army one whit less impossible.
II Napoleon had made peace before
leipzig it is probable that the Ma
1oleonic peril to Europe would have
for another decade. His am
,ition and his self confidence blinded
3is Judgment. The Germans are
seeking to profit by his mistakes. II K
sas only at Chaumont that the Allies
It last grasped the real Napoleonic
problem and determined TO abolish il
na ~ 4 l.. ..s,rt, D.,