New Britain herald., 1917-01-22

among organized nations. No peace can last, or ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the prin- ciple that governments derive all their just power from the consent of the governed and that no right anywhere exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were property. I take it for granted, for instance, if I may venture upon a single example, that statesmen are agreed that there should be united, iDdependent and autonymous Poland at. that security of life, of worship, and of industrial and social develop ment should be guaranteed to all peoples who have lived hitherto under the power of governments devoted) to a faith and purpose other than their own.
 'I speak of this not because of any desirt to exalt an abstract or political people which has always been held very dear by those who have sought . to build up liberty in America but the same reason that l have spoken of, the other conditions of peace which seem to me clearly dispensible-because I wish frankly to uncover realities. Any peace which does not recognize and accept, this principle will inevitab bly, be, upset. The ferment of the spirit ] of whole populations will fight sub- stantially and constantly against it and all the world will sympathize. The world can be at peace only if its life is stable and there can be no sta- bility where the will is in rebellion, where there is not tranquility of spirit and sense of justice, Of free dom and of right.
 ''So far as practicable, moreover, every great people now struggling towards a full development of it's e. sources and of its powers, should be assured a direct outlet to the great highways of the sea. Where this can not be done by the cession of territory 1t cannot be done by the neutraliza- ton of direct rights of way under the general guarantee which will assure the peace itself. And the paths of the sea must alike, in law and in fact be free. The freedom of the seas is the sine qua non or peace, equality and cooperation. No doubt some what radical revision of many of the rules of international practice hitherto sought to he esta blished may be ne- cessarv in order to make the seas indeed free and common in practically All circumstances for the use of man. , kind There can be no trust or in timacy between the peoples of the world without them. The free, con- stant. unthreatened right of nations is an essential part of the process of peace and of development. It need not be difficult to define the freedom the seas if the governments of the world sincerely desire to come to an agreement concerning it.
 f.Jt is q problem closely connected with the limitation of naval arma- ments and the cooperation Of the navies of the world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. And the ,uestion of limiting naval armaments onens the wider and perhaps more difficult question of the limitation of .}mies and of all problems of mili- tary preparation. Difficult and deli cate as these questions are they must he faced with the utmost candor and decided in spirit of real accommo- dation if peace is healing in it's wings and comes to stay. Peace cannot be had without concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense Of safety and eauality among the nations if great prpondcrating armies are henceforth +6continue here and there to be built ] 1ID ana man tdlllet He SldleSllleu of inc world must plan for peace and nations must adjust and accOmmo- date their policy to it as they have planned for war and made ready For intern ational contests and rivalry. The question of armament whether l. oakland or sea is the most immediate and intensely practical question con- nected with the future fortunes of na- ..a,,c ,,d nf mankind 'T have spoken upon these great