Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-05-17
No Peace without 1ndcmni,ies

CMALL wonder that the provisional govern
- ment OF Russia. being composed of men
or principle and understanding, has refused
TO consent to the formation of a coalition
Cabinet on the conditions laid down by the
Council Of Workmens and Soldiers Dele
gates The stumbling block was the insist
ence Of the council that Russia adopt a
foreign policy, openly pursuing the aim of
reaching as soon as possible general peace
without annexations or indemnites."
NO responsible government, with any clear
comprehension of the causes and origins OF
this war and Of the issues which are involved
could give its approval to this program The
phrase. peace without annexations or in
IDENTITIES. comes trippingly from the tongue
and has n soothing sound, but what does il
imply?
First OF all. that Belgium, betrayed and
violated innocent victim OF German blood
lust. should be left in the ruins of her COM
mercial. industrial and agricultural civiliza-
ton. The billions of dollars worth of her
property which has been destroyed would not
be replaced: the hundreds of millions of
dollars of inequitable and illegal taxes and
requisitions wrung from n starving and
dying people would remain In the thief's
Golfers. For every wrong that has been in
fictcd on her. for every brutal cruelty sho
has suffered, there would be no expiration.
And what Of Serbia? She, too, lies pros
trate trampled by the tyrant's Eeel. If the
developments of this struggle have proved
anything, it is that Serbia was DESTROYED be-
cause she stood in the way of that mid
European empire OF which Berlin dreamed
Austria-Hungary may have been the un-
conscious instrument of Wilhem's purpose
but in the light of events that purpose itself
stands clearly revealed. Serbias crime was
her possession of part of the Berlin Constan-
tinople railway and her strategic control of
the banks of the Danube. For that shs has
been devastated by fire. sword and pestiencc.
Shall there be no indemnity for her?
What of Northern France with its ruined
mines and fields its harried villages, its
looted cities. its desecrated and shattered
cathedrals' Is France to pay this price and
find no recompense?
No Russian government. worthy the name
of government. will answer these questions in
the affirmative. for so to answer would be
destructive Of every principle of justice by
which the Russian revolution was inspired
II the mo indemnity" slogan convicts il self
so also does that which cries aloud for mo
annexations. All nations. great and small,
say the sponsors for this shibboleth must
have the right to work out their own des-
TIMES Austria Hungary in its very being.
is a fiat reputation of this doctrine, for it
is not nation, but collection of unwilling
peoples. bound together by common jealousies
and military might. Bohemia Galica
Transatlantic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Trieste and the Trentino, have their separate
resentments against the rule of the German
and the Magyar, and seek either national
autonomy or amalgamation with those with
whom they are racialy identified, although
politically war II the rule of mo annexa-
tons were adopted by the peace conference
the subject nations of the earth would remain
in their present condition OF dependence and
oppression.
There was nothing in Chancellor Won Beth
mann-Hollweg's speech in the Reichstag de-
spite its suave assurances of sympathy with
Russian aspiration. 10 bring any real com
fort 10 the Russian proletariat. The speech
was notable only for what it did not say
The Chancellor declined again TO state Ger
many's terms of peace but II should require
no argument that there can be no real peace
between Russian democracy and German au-
tocracy. When the lion and the lamb lie
down together. then-and only then-mav
democratic Russia feel safe with autocratic
Germany roaring on her borders
According TO the New York World the
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