New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-04
The Last Peace Offensive

Some time WITHIN tne next lew Gays vi
weeks, when the battle along the Taglia-
mento has been decided. we are going to
have the greatest crisis in the whole OF
the present war. For the last time the
Germans are going to seek to win behind
the lines the war that was lost for them
when their attack upon Verdun failed In
1916. Once more, as last year after the
Rumanian disaster, they will endeavor to
capitalize a victory in a subsidiary field.
They will endeavor TO take advantage OF
Allied depression, incident to contempt
rary German success, TO harvest profits and
escape the penalties Of a war already lost.
As far as the military decision in this
war is concerned, Germany cannot escape
decisive defeat if the war continues be-
tween armies The resources Of France,
of the United States and of Great Britain
in men, in money and in all else are as
certain to triumph in the end as were the
combined resources of the European ma
tons which defeated Louis XIV and de-
stroyed Napoleon.
All this the German knows He knew
il a year ago when he sought on the NOR
row of the Rumanian disaster, while the
world was still shaken by the tragedy and
ignorant of It's real as contrasted with its
apparent Importance, to procure victo-
rious peace under cover Of success
achieved through treachery and in an I'M
important field. He knows it thousand
times better now after the long agony of
local defeats on the West front this year.
The German can win the war now only
if the people behind the Allied lines yield
to his manipulation and their own weari-
ness. The German can dominate the world
now only by intrigue and by treason, since
his chance to control it through his armies
has passed away
In the crisis which is at hand the advice
Of America will play the decisive part. II
we speak in hating tones; if we fail to
demonstrate alike by word and deed that
we mean to fight this war to decision
with all OF our resources, and oil OF our
strength is not dedicated TO this contest,
there will be an inconclusive peace, which
spells a German victory. The German as
sauls upon civilization will win q measur-
able success, with consequences which no
man can calculate.
On the other hand, if, on the morrow
of other victories; II, after successful
Italian campaign comparable to the Ru-
manian operation Of last year, Germany
finds herself still confronted alike by the
armies and the peoples Of the nations she
is fighting; if the German people discover
that there is no end to the war by any
success in subsidiary fields and that the
fatal pressure on the West continues un-
abated, then We shall see happen in Ger
many what happened In Napoleon's France
when the French people, while the great
Emperor was still victorious, wearied Of
a war that never ended and tired Of VIC
tories which never brought peace.
II, when the Italian situation has again
settled down, the German peace offensive
that will be launched in every Allied ma
ton ia repulsed, the effect will be precisely
the same as that Of the election of 1854 in
our own country. Then. as now, the enemy
relied upon the people behind the lines to
avert a decision In the field From the
armies Of Grant and Sherman the South
appealed TO the people Of the loyal States.
By every device, by every appeal TO self
ishness, 10 cowardice, to weakness, It
sought 10 procure betrayal by the civil
ian population Of the soldier in the field.
The South failed; election day, 1864, won
the Civil War, and Appomattox was only
an incident.
We have come 20 the point in the war
which Is comparable with the crisis Of
1854 In our own Civil War. We are as
near victory in the field now as was the
North at the close Of Grants Virginia
campaign. The Germans said early In the
usr that The neopls with the strongest