New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-18
When the Devil Was Sick

Il is perfectly plain from the dispatches
that arc coming to us from scandinavian
countries that Germany is again cndeavor-
irc 70 make peace and TO set in motion
once moro the agitation which filed the
world late last year. Coincident with tins
j, an outbreak Of peace sentiment in Aus
tria, which may, or may not, be IN response
10 German dictation.
The crux Of the whole situation at the
moment is. Of course, in Russia. There has
been At all times plain danger that the
Germans would be able to use the extreme
radicals and Socialists to disrupt the new
Government in Russia, reduce the national
organization to chaos and escape further
Russian attack. II Is worth remembering
that Frederick the Great was saved by
change Of rulers in Russia, and It would
he ;ronical beyond words - Germany could
once more profit through change in the
Russian government. Nor would It be less
ironIcal If Prussian autocracy should es-
cape by reason Of an alliance with Russian
Socialists and radicals.
A separate peace between Russia and
the Central Powers Is a plain possibility,
carving with it a peril TO the Western
Powers allied against Germany and also
peril to the United States now at war
with Germany. It is possible TO exag-
gerate the peril, but 1t IL unw1se TO dis
regard it.
AS N peace between Germany on the
ono hand and France and England on the
other. this will not come until the end OF
the present campaign, and It will not come
tben-so far as England is concerned GER
tainly. and probably so far as France Is
concerned-unless the campaign is ended
with a decisive defeat TO the Prussian ar
mics. The resolution Of France and of
Great Britain Is to have done once and
for all with the menace Of the German
military caste.
Americans should not permit themselves
for a single moment TO be deluded by the
present German campaign for peace 1t
should be remembered at all times that
the same government which is protesting
its love for peace and its desire to save
mankind from further terrors Of war Is
LAYING waste the whole Of Northern
France, Is continuing a crime more terri
bic than anything that civilized man has
known in five centuries. The present peace
campaign on the part Of Germany is
last desperate effort to save something
from the declining estate Of German ar
mics II is desire TO preserve the tradi-
ton Of Prussian militarism and the repu-
tation of German armies. If the German
armies escape without decisive defeat, the
same situation that provoked this war Will
nresently provoke other wars. There can
he no permanent peace in Europe that is
not founded on the defeat of German mill
tarism and on the crushing Of that spirit
which is behind, beneath and about all
German purpose and all German operation.
The United States should not in the
smallest measure contribute TO helping
what is a lying campaign; what is an ef-
fort 10 perpetuate the Prussian system, a
last effort TO save autocracy in its death
grapple with democracy. We should not
be deceived by the soft words by the ny
pocrisy, by the sham Of German profession
We who see written all over the world at
the present moment the reality Of German
ism. The measure of the German spirit Of
today is not what the German agents are
SAYING at Copenhagen, but what German
soldiers are doing at ST. Quentin and
Rheims. We shall have many professions
OF German love for humanity. We have
had many already. The hands dripping
with the blood Of women and children have
been raised TO heaven too often in recent
months 20 deceive US once more. We are
approaching the end Of one Of the greatest
struggles for civilization in the history OF
mankind, and there is only one solution
possible-the defeat, and the utter defeat,
of the German military forces.
Let us accept the German peace pro-
posals now for what they are. They arc
sign Of weakness; they arc sign Of rec
ns,ni,inn Of the annronch Of real defeat.