Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-06-07
mo CONQUEST, NO INDEMNITY

mo CONQUEST, NO INDEMNITY
An authoritative statement Of Brit
ish policy with especial reference to
the new situation created by the re-
cent Russian diplomacy is, as H. G..
Wells points out in his able letter to
the London Daily Chronicle, "a thing
overdue" The only expression which
Great Britain ras made to meet this
situation was contained in a speech
by Lord Robert Cecil, then the acting
Foreign Secretary in the absence Of
Mr.. Balfour, speech called forth by
a resolution presented in Parliament
by Philip Snowden, advocating Eng
lands support of the Russian policy of
40 conquest. no indemnify. AL
though Mr.. Asquith attempted to quail
ify Lord Cecil's speech in debate, it's
ceived with disfavor in Russia, and
in view Of the further fact that Mr..
Snowden's resolution was lost by a
large majority the whole incident has
tended to tax the relations between
Great Britain and the new Russian
Government.
1t is extremely doubtful if at the
time Lord Robert Cecil spoke for the
British Government on this question
the full significance of the Russian
pronunciamento had been realized in
England, or, indeed, in the world at
large. The last few weeks of almost
constant discussion have, however,
served to bring to the attention of
both belligerents and neutrals the SUI
preme Importance of the issue which
Russia has brought forward The
spirit of policy of mo conquest, no
indemnity" is one to which every
democracy cannot fail to subscribe.
presumably are fighting. 1t is the
spirit in which America presumably
has entered the war The issue for
each nation really hinges on what is
meant by conquest and indemnity,
what specifically the terms cover or
do not cover. This, the world has
been busily defining during the last
few weeks Premier Ribot has spok-
en- for France. President Wilson will
soon have spoken for America, while
many of the past expressions are di-
rectly applicable to the issue, and fin
ally the preliminary Stockholm con-
ference has brought forth a tentative
Socialist definition of the issue. 1t
seems agreed by liberal opinion
throughout the world that the ques-
ton of Alsace-Lorraine does not fall
under the head of conquest, and that
restitution for Belgium, Serbia and
Poland does not fall under the hea,
of Indemnity
Little by little has the issue been
brought down to its true essentials.
The original Russian statement, an
open and unimpeachable generality,
has cut across the confused interna-
tlonal situation and helped every
where to clarity opinions and poll
cies. In uniting to admit it's main
principle the democracies of the
world have established a safeguard
against their own tendencies toward
conservatism which are the inevitable
reaction of sudden and increasing
organization of forces for war. AS
Mr.. Wells points out, however, the
case for England has not vet been
satisfactorily put. There is every
reason to suppose that with the re-
turn of Mr.. Balfour to English soil.
after his sojourn in the perhaps more
open atmosphere of America, an ex-
preston of British policy will be
forthcoming that seems in closer
sympathy with the tremendous but
dangerous events brooding upon the
eastern horizon of the war