Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-01-23
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of peace the governments now at war
might agree upon or seek to upset
them when made. whatever they might
be. only take it for granted that
mere terms of peace between the bel
ligerents will not satisfy even the bel
igerents themselves. Mere agreements
may not make peace secure. 1t will be
absolutely necessary that a force be
created as guarantor of the perma-
nency of the settlement so much
greater than the force of any nation
now engaged or any alliance hitherto
formed or projected, that no nation, no
probable combination of nations could
face or withstand it. If the peace pres
emily to be made is to endure it must
be a peace made secure by the organ
lied major force of mankind.
The Great Question
THE terms of the immediate peace
agreed upon will determine whether il
is a peace for which such a guarantee
can be secured. The question upon the
whole future peace and policy of the
world depends is this:
SIS the present war a struggle for a
just and secure peace or only for a
new balance of power? If it be only a
struggle for a new balance of power
who will guarantee. who can guaran-
tee the stable equilibrium OF the new
arrangement? Only tranquil Europe
can be a stable Europe. There must
be not only a balance of power, but
a community of power: not organized
rivalries, but an organized common
peace.
+, fortunately, we have received very
explicit assurances on this point. The
statesmen of both the groups of ma
lions now arrayed against one another
have said, in terms that could not be
misinterpreted that it was no part OF
the purpose they had in mind to crush
their antagonists. But the implications
of these assurances may not be equally
clear to all--may not be the same or
both sides of the water. I think it will
be serviceable if / attempt to set forth
what we understand them to be.
A Peace under Duress
They imply first of all that it mus
be a peace without victory. 1t is no.
pleasant to say this. l beg that l may
be permitted to put my own interpreta
ton upon it and that it may be under
stood that no other Interpretation was
In my thought. am seeking only tc
face realities and to face them without
soft concealments. Victory would NEAR
peace forced upon the loser. a victor's
terms imposed upon the vanquished 1,
would be accepted in humiliation, under
duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and
would leave sting, a resentment, a bit
ter memory upon which terms OF peace
would rest, not permanently. but only
as upon quicksand. Only a peace be-
very principle of which is equality ano
a common participation in common
benefit. The right state of mind, tne
right feeling between nations, is as
necessary for a lasting peace as is the
just settlement of veXed questions Vi
territory or of racial and national allie
glance.
THE equality OF nations upon whcr
peace must be founded, if it is to last
must be an equality of rights; the guar
antees exchanged must neither recognize
nor imply a difference between big ma
tons and small, between those that are
powerful and those that are weak. Rlgh
must be based upon the common
strength, not upon the individua
strength, of the nations upon whose
concert peace will depend.
Equality of territory or OF resources
there of course cannot be; nor any Other
sort OF equality not gained in the ordlna
~ peaceful and legitimate development
OF the peoples themselves. But no on
asks or expects anything more thah al
equality of rights. Mankind Is LOOKING
now for freedom Of life, not for cau'
poises of power
An Autonomous Poland
And there is deeper thlnS HFotNe-
than even equality of rights among or
ganized nations. No peace can last OF
ought to last, which does not recognize
and accept the principle that govern
mepts derive all their Just powers IRON
the consent of the governed and that nc
right anywhere exists to hand peoples
about from sovereignty to sovereignty a.
,f they we're property. take II fol
granted, for instance. If | may venture
upon a single example, that statesmen
cycrvUhere are agreed that there shoui,
be a united, independent and autonomous
Poland and that henceforth inviolable Sc
curitv Of life, OF worship and OF indus
trial and social development should b.
guaranteed to all peoples who have hve'
hitherto under the power of government
devoted to faith and purpose hostile