New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-26
It is an Italian policy, quite as much as
Alsace- Lorraine is a French policy.
n 4 IL u Ill. in

and language, 10 lransylVanla. one h"S
declared her purpose to liberate the Tran
sylvanian Rumanians, as Italy has de-
clared her purpose to free the Trentne
and Istrian Latins and France has averred
her determination to rescue the people OF
Alsace-Lorraine. The Serbs seek also to
Lberate the millions of Serbians under
Austrian rule between the brave and the
Adriatic. This is not an English policy
Here are the main questions that re-
main IN be settled and are the obstacles
to peace, and in no one of them has Eng
land any direct selfish concern. Now, IN
the matter of the colonies: The Prime
Minister Of New South Wales, speaking
in New York the other day, declared that
under no circumstances would Australia
ever consent to a return of New Guinea
to Germany. The government and the
people of New Zealand have similarly de-
clared their determination to hold German
Samoa. The people Of South Africa, hav-
ing conquered German Southwest Africa,
have declared that under no circumstances
will they permit return to Germany of
this colony, which was used as base for
intrigue and sedition against South Africa.
The British government could not, if it
chose, save by resort to arms, compel the
people of Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa TO restore these German colonies.
A hundred and fifty years ago the colonies
of England on the Atlantic seaboard would
have taken up arms against the mother
country had it been suggested that Quebec
should be restored to France. Great Brit
ain has neither the authority nor the
right to coerce colonies to restore German
possessions.
Finally there remain the German
colonies in Central Africa, and Mr.. Lloyd
George has already said publicly that the
disposition of these is a matter TO be dis
cussed at the peace conference; but here
the French and Belgian interests are united
with the British, as French and Belgian
forces have shared with the troops of the
Union Of South Africa in the campaign
that conquered these colonies. All but
thin slice Of the Kamerun is in French
hands and a half of Togo The Portu-
guese have operated with the Belgians and
the British in German East Africa, and
Portuguese and Belgian policies are hos
title to restoration of these colonies to
Germany.
In all this discussion it is quite clear
there is no truth in saddling upon the
English responsibilities such as Mr.. Hearst
in his paper places upon them. The design
is simple and the device is transparent.
Germany is about to propose a peace on
the basis of status quo ante. Mr.. Hearst
is going out in advance of the German
proposal to seek to prepare the way and
to try to prepare it in America by confus-
ing the minds Of millions of people by
perfectly obvious and shameless lie. He
believes that he can capitalize prejudice
against Great Britain to the extent of
driving wedge between the English and
American policies in the matter of the
World War. If he can do this he will
have rendered service to German mill
tarism that should be rewarded by a more
considerable German princedom than that
which seems about to be bestowed upon
Hindenburg.
He will not succeed, because the Amer
lean people are not so uninteligent as Mr..
Hearst believes. They are not prepared to
sacrifice all the issues of the war for which
they are fighting and follow Mr.. Hearst in
a mad assault upon England, an assault
designed to serve German ends and benefit
the enemy with whom our country is at war.
We are going to have many manoeuvres
Ike the present. We are going to have
an infinite number Of attempts on the part
of the Germans to separate the United
States from the Allies. Without doubt
most of these attempts will be predicated
upon appeals to anti-English sentiment.
They will consist of similar lies. Again
and again the effort will be made to es-
tablish the idea that England is the sole
obstacle to peace and to just peace. They
will fail as this has failed and as all of