New-York tribune., 1917-12-17
Mr.. Asquith's Plan for
Worldwide Peace
A Partnership Among Nations
to Remove the Causes That
Have Made for War

Mr.. Asquith has given an interview
on The subject Of the settlement after
the war to Edward Marshall. and the
report is published in "The London
Observer" The following is an ex-
tract:
"The FIRST thing needed is, without
doubt, not a reestablishment Of the
balance Of power, but the removal Of
one Of the chief Of the chronic causes
Of unsettlement by the emancipation
and regrouping Of subject peoples in
accordance with their aspirations and
interests This would 90 a long way
toward healing the fostering sores which
Europe ha, inherited from dynastic
ambitions, from diplomatic chicane.
from military rapacity.
But IL is clear that if the peace
which has become the first interest Of
q bleeding and devastated world is to
be something more than breathing
space or a passing interlude, We can
not be content with a mere repainting
OF the map. Nor must our reconstruc-
tion concern Europe alone. As Presi-
dent Wilson said in his message TO the
Senate on January 22 last: No COW
enant of cooperative peace that does
not include the peoples Of the New
World can suffice to keep the future
safe against war; We must aim at
setting up a worldwide peace partner
ship. of which all the civilized COM
munities will be members on a level
footing, with equal rights and recipro-
cal duties.
The wantOn recourse TO the use OF
force by one nation against another
must be guarded against and IN time
superseded by common agreement TO
submit disputes to the common Judg-
ment, and, in case of need, TO unite
the strength of all by appropriate
means in order to give effect 70 the
common will. Subject TO these condl-
tions, each country must possess abs0-
Lutte freedom TO pursue at home, IN
accordance with the wishes Of its own
people. its own ideals Of self-develop-
ment.
ITO the attainment, even gradual and
partial, of such reconstruction there
is preliminary step, the mere mention
of which would only four years ago
have insured for its advocate the con-
tempt of practical men, but which,
through the terrific and Irreparable
desolation of war, as we have learned
to know il, has now as | said in its
early weeks at Dublin on September
%. 1910, come within the range and
before long will come within the
grasp of the worlds craftsmanship.
"That step is the progressive limita-
tion of armaments. These changes,
which involve the definite reputation
of miltarism as the governing factor
in the relation Of states will not be
brought about by a stroke of the pen
or by an avalanche Of rhetoric. They
will involve the creation of that which
must be, in the first instance, a tenta-
tive and elastic machinery and a sys-
tenn of procedure judicial. consultative
and executive. They must aim from
the beginning at something more than
the negative functions of policing the
world and preventing breaches OF the
peace: at nothing less than "a partner
ship of the nations in the joint pursuit
of a freer and fuller life for the count
less millions, who, by their efforts and
sacrifices, generation after generation,
maintain the progress and enrich the
inheritance of humanity (Speech at
Queens Hall. August 4, 1916.
Canning, in a famous and vainglo.:
rious phrase, boasted that he had
called in the New World 10 redress the
balance Of the Old. The New World
Is summoned now, not by an eXtraneous
voice, but by its own conscience and its
own best ideals, to a higher and more
arduous task. Only a few weeks ago
the streets of London were crowded
with sympathetic and admiring spec
tators of the march past of a splen-
did American detachment of the force
on its way to the Western front. Whlie
we salute your soldiers with gratitude
and enthusiasm as fellow-fghters in
the war for liberty, we hail them also
as pioneers of the great partnership
which will associate America and our
selves in the creation Of a new future
for mankind"