The Washington times., 1917-01-22

Peace. 1 am here to attempt to state
those conditions
The present war must first be end
ed; but we owe It to candour and
to Just regard for the opinion OF man
kind to say that, so far as our parti-
cipation in guarantees or tuture
peace is concerned, IL makes q great
deal of difference in what way and
upon what terms il is ended. me
treaties and agreements which bring
IT to an end must embody terms
which will create a peace that Is
worth guaranteeing and preserving,
O peace that will win the approval
of mankind, not merely a peace that
will serve the several interests and
immediate aims of the nations engag-
ed We shall have no voice in deter
mining what those terms shall be,
but we shall, 1 feel sure, have a
voice in determining whether they
shall be made lasting or not by the
guarantees of a universal covenant;
and our judgment upon what is run
damental and essential as condition
precedent to permanency should be
spoken now. not afterwards when 1t
may be to late.
Only One Sort of Peace.
No covenant of cooperative peace
that does not include the peoples OF
the New World can suffice to keep
the future safe against war. and yet
there is only one sort of peace that
the peoples of America could join in
guaranteeing. The elements of that
peace must be elements that engage
the confidence and satisfy the prin-
A. ~
elements consistent with their polit-
ical faith and with the practical con-
victions which the peoples Of America
have once for all embraced and I'M
dertaken to defend.
1 do not mean to say that any
American government would throw
any obstacle in the way of any terms
of peace the governments now at wal
might agree upon, or seek to upset
them when made, whatever they
might be. 1 only take it for granted
that mere terms of peace between
the belligerents will not satisfy even
the beIligerents themselves. Mere
agreements may not make peace Sc
cure. 1t will be absolutely necessary
that a force be created as guar
antor of the permanency Of the set
Element $50 much greater than the
force of any nation now engaged OIL
any alliance hitherto formed or pro-
jected that no nation, no probable
combination Of nations could face OIL
withstand it. If the peace presently
TO be made is to end lire, 1t must be a
peace made secure by the organized
major force of mankind.
Vital Question.
The terms of the immediate peace
agreed upon will determine whether
tits q peace for which such a guaran-
tee can be secured. The question
upon which the whole future peace
and policy of the world depends is
this: Is the present war a struggle
for a just and secure peace, or only
for a new balance of power? II II be
only a struggle for a new balance of
power, who will guarantee, who can
guarantee, the stable equilibrium of
the new arrangement? Only a tram
gull Europe can be a stable Europe.
There must be, not a balance of
power, but a community Of power;
not organized rivalries, but an organ
lied common peace.
Fortunately we have received very
explicit assurances on this point. The
statesmen of both Of the groups of
nations now arrayed against one an
not be misinterpreted, that ii 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 on both sides of the wa
ter. 1 think 1t will be serviceable if
attempt to set forth what we under
stand them to be.
Wants Own INTERPRETATION.
They imply, first of all, that it must
be a peace without victory. It is not
pleasant to say this. beg that
may be permitted to put my own in
depreciation upon II and that 1t may
be understood that no other interpre-
tation was my thought. 1 am seeking
only TO face realities and to face them
without soft concealments. Victory
would mean peace forced upon the
loser, a victoT's terms imposed upon
the vanquished. 1t would be accepted
in humiliation, under duress, at an
intolerable sacrifice, and would leave
Q sting, O resentment, a bitter mem
ory upon which terms, OF peace would
rest, not permanently, but only as
upon Quicksand. Only a peace be-
tween equals can last. Only a peace
the very principle of which is equality
and a common participation in a COM
mon bene1t. The right state Of mind,
the right feeling between nations, is
as necessary for a lasting peace as is
the just settlement Of vexed ques-
lions of territory or OF racial and
national allegiance.
Equality of Rights.
The equality of nations upon which
peace must be founded IL 1t is to last
must be- an equality OF rights; the
guarantees exchanged must neither
recognize nor imply a difference be-
tween big nations and small, between
those that are powerful and those
that are weak. Right must be based
upon the common strength, not upon
the individual strength, of the ma
lions 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 ordinary peaceful and
legitimate development of the peo-
pies themselves. But no one asks
0F AXnects ANYTHING Ynora than an