New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-10
Certain Illusions Have Been Abandoned
by Germany and the Allies, but the
Fundamental Battle Between Slav
and Teuton Remains - War
of Exhaustion to Decide
Copyright l9l6-The Tribune ASS

but she never would resign Trieste or DIAL
malta. For herself she would claim the
right to decide the fate Of Serbia, Of Mon
tenegro and of Albania. The Macedonian
portion Of Serbia would certainly be ceded
to Bulgaria.; the balance might be joined
with Austrian and Hungarian Slav prov
inces, it might be surrendered to Hun
gary, II might be erected into dependent
but titularly independent kingdom under
an Austrian prince; but as free state it
would vanish.
In addition 10 Serbian territory, includ-
ing Monastir and Nish, Bulgaria would
receive the Rumanian Dobrudja and Greek
Kavala, while Greece would have Southern
Albania, now marked for Italy and occu-
pied by Italian troops. As for Turkey,
she would keep what she has and accept
her losses in Armenia and Egypt.
Slsv Against Teuton
We have here the sum CT the differences,
then-France, Italy and Rumania claiming
their lost provinces (Alsace-Lorraine,
Trieste and the Trentino, Transylvania) as
the permanent barriers to peace, together
with the Russian claim to Constantinople.
To balance them we have the German
claim TO Poland, the Austrian claim TO
Serbia, the determination Of the Central
Powers 20 reward their Bulgarian ally, as
the other alliance has pledged itself to re-
ward Rumania.
And the real battle is between the Slav
and the Teuton. The possession Of Alsace-
Lorraine by France, of Trieste and the
Trentino by Italy will not materially
change the European situation. But the
possession of Constantinople by the Turk,
actually subjected to German direction, or
the passing of Constantinople 10 the
Cars will constitute the biggest change
in European territory in nearly five CEN
turtles, a change, whichever prevails,
fraught with peril for all the Medter-
ranean powers and full Of meaning for
Britain, now the possessor Of Egypt and
India.
Those who would understand the present
obstacles to peace must recognize that
neither alliance would now consent 10 re-
turn to the conditions Of 1914; that such a
return would, in fact, be confession OF
surrender for the Central Powers, because
it would mean the restoration Of Serbia
and the renewal of the Russian threat to
Constantinople. They must understand
the French feeling toward Alsace-Lor-
raine, sentiment compounded Of moral
conviction and the belief that the war has
demonstrated that France is indefensible
without the Rhine frontier; the Italian
sentiment in the matter Of "unredeemed
Italy," plus the conviction, strengthened
by the war, that Northern Italy is inde-
feasible while Austria holds Trent.
Exhaustion to Decide
Conversely, they must grasp the German
belief that only with Polish buffer state
will Germany be safe against the onrush
of the Slav, that only with the door TO the
Near East open and in Austrian and Tur-
kish hands will Germany be able to reap
any harvest from her vast sacrifices or
preserve any future commensurate with
her rank as a world power and commensu-
rate, too, with the world empires Of her
opponents, which remain mistaken and,
indeed, increased by the present conflict.
Here is the final answer 10 any present
possibility of peace. Such progress as has
been made toward peace has been made
by the removal Of illusions. A limit has
been set to the hopes and ambitions Of all
the combatants, but what still seems to
each group possible far exceeds anything
the other will concede. Unless there be
sweeping success by one group of powers
over the other, which is extremely unlikely,
or a change of sides by one power, which
grows more and more unlikely, the pros
pect is for war of exhaustion, lasting I'M
til one group is worn out or both groups,
having approached exhaustion with equal
step, at last consent to settle around the
green table what cannot be settled by bat
tie. This means another Treaty of West
phala or Of Utrecht, just as the defeat Of
Germany now, and not two years ago,
would mean another Congress Of Vienna,
a congress in which the essential unity Of
the defeated nations would be recognized
as the first condition Of permanent peace.
have to apologize TO my readers for
rather humiliating slip last week by
which the Hundred Days were described as
extending from the landing of Napoleon