New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-16
The American Point Of View

TO its very great regret The tribune
finds itself unable 90 agree with the opin-
ions expressed by the extreme pro-Alhed
press and partisans, both in this country
and abroad. az The present moment. Shar-
ING sc it does uureservedly the suspicious
n Britors. Frenchmen, Russians and ltal-
ians as 20 the motives Of the Germans
government in proposing peace II Is no
less confronted by the very real TACT oil
American hope and desire that peace
should be restored.
The Tribune will be the last newspaper
in the world 20 advocate peace at any
price or peace at the cost Of any essential
rr;nciple involved IN the struggle. When
after three wears of our Civil War Lincoln
consented 70 peace negotiations with tne
South he laid down as the primary condl-
ton that there should be a restoration OF
the Union. His only other fixed condition
was that the status Of the negro, as de-
elsred bv the Emancipation Proclamation,
should be accepted by the South. The
South declined 70 accept these conditions:
~. had more war and the South was con
ouered. But when the North, It's passions
reused By the death Of Lincoln, set out 10
,rnpose punitive conditions upon the South
the result was a period Of persecution
which ended only when Northern troops
were withdrawn from the South and the
right Of the South % live its own lie
within the Union was recognized. Not
until then did the real reunion OF the
nation begin.
To-day there are conditions I'm every
ones mind quite as there were fixed con
ditions in the mind Of Abraham Lincoln.
The restoration Of Belgium and Serbia by
Germany and Austria is a condition which
Germany and Austria must comply with
if their proposal for peace is TO enlist the
smallest interest or support in neutral
countries, and above all in America. If
Germany and Austria have proposed peace
without intending 70 concede this in ad-
vance American public opinion will re-
iect their whole proposition as lie and
a sham and there will be q corresponding
accession Of American sympathy TO the
Allied cause.
Again. The Tribune breaks very sharply
with its pro-Ally associates who are as
sorting that the German proposal is a
plain demonstration of German weakness
and that Germany has proposed TO nego-
tiate with the realization that complete
defeat, a Waterloo or a Sedan, is the alter
native in the next campaign; with the
foreknowledge that Germany has reached
the condition Of economic exhaustion and
that the surrender must come soon II
peace does not. It does not believe this,
and. not believing this, it cannot agree with
Its contemporaries in fixing as the terms
Of peace conditions such as the Allies did
impose on France after Waterloo but did
not dream Of proposing to Napoleon after
Moscow or even after Leipzig. After all,
we must still recognize that Bucharest Is
the last military fact in the case.
In the view Of The Tribune, the prime
reason for the German proposal Of peace is
the frame Of mind of the German people
Thew went TO war unanimously when they
were told by their government that Ger
many was attacked. They have supported
the burden Of the war with very great for
titude and loyalty up 10 the present mo
ment in the face Of hardship and loss.
But they have for many months been IN
able 70 understand why a war for the de-
fence Of Germany should 90 on when Ger
many was conquerug territories on all
sides Of her and the war was being waged
on al sides I'm hostile territory.
The leaders have told them that peace
was impossible because the nations allied
sgainst Germany and Austria were seek
ing 10 destroy Germany and Austria. and
they have supported this assertion by the
declarations of purpose printed m the
Allied press. But the people of Germany
have been dissatisfied with this explana-
ton. and after each German victory they
have become more dissatisfied, feeling
that the Allies must recognize the impos-
sibiity Of destroying Germany in the face
OF the achievement Of German arms.
Accordingly, the German government
has been forced at last, after new vic
tory. 70 make peace proposal Now if
this proposal Is greeted by the Allied
press and by the friends Of the Allies
in neutral countries as unworthy Of con-
sideration. If il is rejected and at the
moment IL is rejected the Allied press re-
news the old assertions that there can be
no peace until Germany is crushed, until
Austria is partitioned, until Hohenzollerns
and Hapsburgs are exiled. until the Ger
man people are compelled TO remodel their
government in accordance with the viii
of the enemy. until Germans are punished
for crimes that the German people do not
believe occurred, what will be the result ?
Can there be any doubt? viii not the