Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1917-12-15

p1re, q war OIL O0SpSE1t1 UcA1-N SASt1cS
against deliberate aggression. Moth
Ing could Be more grossly 81 wantonly
false, and we must seek by the utmost
5openness and candor as to our real
aims to convince them yof its false
ness.
We are. In fact, lighting fot their
emancipation from fear, along with
our own, from the fear as we'll as from
the fact Of unjust attack by neighbofs
or rivals or schemers after world en-
pire. No one is threatening the exist
ence or the independence Of the peace
full enterprise OF the German Empire.
The worst that can happen to the
detriment Of the German people is
this, that II they should still, after the
war is over. continue to be obliged to
live under ambitious and intriguing
masters interested to disturb the peace
Of the world, men or, classes Of men
whom the other peoples of the world
could not trust, it might be impossible
to admit them to the partnership Of
nations, which must henceforth guar.
antee the worlds peace.
unjust BE Partnership Of All PeopIes.n.
That partnership must be partner
ship of peoples, not mere partner
ship of Governments. It might be Inn
possible, also, in such untoward cir
cumstances, to admit Germany to the
free economic intercourse, which must
inevitably spring. out of the other part,
nerships of a real peace. But there
would be no aggression in that, and
such a situation, inevitable because of
distrust, would in the very nature of
things sooner ar later cure itself by,
processes which would assuredly
set in.
Wrongs Must Be Righted.
The wrongs, the very deep wrongs,
committed in this war will have to be
righted. That, of course But they
cannot and must not be righted by the
commission Of similar wrongs against
Germany and her allies. The world
will not permit the commission Of SINH
lar wrongs as a means Of reparation
and settlement. Statesmen must by
this time have learned that the opin-
ion of the world is everywhere wide
awake and fully comprehends the is
sues involved. No representative of
any self-governed nation will dare dis
regard it by attempting any such COW
enants of selfishness and compromise
as were entered into at the Congress
of Vienna
The thought Of the plain people here
and everywhere throughout the world,
the people who enjoy no privilege and
have very simple and unsophisticated
standards Of right and wrong, is the
air all Governments must henceforth
breathe if they would live,
No Opinions OF Their Own.
It is in the full disclosing light OF
that thought that all policies must be
conceived and executed in this mid
day hour Of the worlds life
German rulers have been able to
upset the peace of the world only be-
cause the German people were not suf-
fered under their tutelage to share the
comradeship of the other peoples of
the world, either in thought or pur-
pose.
They were allowed to have no opin-
ion of their own which might be set
,,r &c n ,-,,Io of oopduof for +boco xubo
exercised authority over them. But
the congress that concludes this war
will feel the full strength of the tides
that run now in the hearts and con-
conclusions will run with those tides.
All these things have been true from
the very beginning of this stupendous
war; and l cannot help thinking that
if they had been made plain at the
very outset the sympathy and en-
thusiasm of the Russian people might
have been once for all enlisted on the
side of the Allies, suspicion and dis
trust swept away and a real and last
ing union of purpose effected.
Russian People Poisoned BY Lies.
Had they believed these things from
the very moment of their revolution,
and had they been confirmed in that
belief since, the sad reverses which
have recently marked the progress of
their affairs towards an ordered and
stable government Of free men might
have been avoided. The Russian peo-
pie have been poisoned by the very
same falsehoods that have kept the
German people in the dark, and the
poison has been administered by the
very same hands. The only possible
antidote is the truth. 1t cannot be
uttered too plainly, nor too often.
From every point of view, therefore.
it has seemed to be my duty to speak
these declarations of purpose, to add
these specific interpretations to what
took the liberty of saying to the Sen
ate in January. Our entrance into the
war has not altered our attitude to-
ward the settlement that must come
when it is over. When l said in Jan
uary that the nations Of the world
were entitled not only to free path
ways upon the sea, but also to assured
and unmolested access to those path
ways, l was thinking, and I am think
ing now, not of the smaller and weaker
nations alone, which need our counter
ance and support, but also of the great
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