Middletown transcript., 1917-01-27

essential as condition precedent 10
pern.anency should be spoken now. not
when il may Ee too late
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- |
ciples of the American governments, |
elements consistent with their politi- |
cal faith and the practical convictions
which the peoples of America have
once for all embraced and undertaken
to defend.
Il 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 war
might agree upon, or seek to upset
them when made, whatever they might
be. l only take it for granted that
mere terms Of peace between the bel
ligerents will not satisfy even the bel
lgerents themselves. Mere agreements
may not make peace secure. 1t Will
be absolutely necessary that a force
be created as a guarantor OF the
pernanency Of the settlement so much
greater than the force of any nation
now engaged, or any alliance hitherto
60 Tod hoH M
probable combination of nations, could
face or Withstand it. If the peace
presently to be made is to endure, it
must be peace made secure by the
organized major forces of mankind.
No Mere Makeshift.
"The terms Of the immediate peace
agreed upon will determine whether
| it is a peace for which such a guar
antee 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 1t
be only struggle for new balance
of power, who will guarantee, who can
guarantee, the stable equilibrium OF
the new arrangement? Only tran
Gull Europe can be. a. stable Europe.
There must be, not balance Of power,
but a community of power; not organ
lied rivalries, but an organized COM
mon peace.
fortunately, we have received very
explicit assurances on this poiLt. the
statesmen of both Of the groups Of
nations now arrayed against one an
other 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 on both sides of the water.
l think it will be serviceable if l at
tempt to set forth what we under
stand them to be.
A Peace Without Victory.
"They imply, first of all, that 1t
must be a place without victory. 1t
is not pleasant to say this. beg that
Interpretation upon it, and that it may
, be understood that no other interpreta-
ton was in my thought. l am seeking
only to face realities and to face them
, without soft concealments. Victory
would mean peace forced upon the
loser, a victor's terms imposed upon
the vanquished. 1t would be accepted
in humiliation, under duress, at an in,
, tolerable sacrifice, and would leave a
| sting, resentment, a bitter memory
, upon which terms of peace would rest
not permanently, but only as upon
? quicksand. Only a peace between
; equals can last. Only peace the very
: principle of which is equality and a
common participation in a common
benefit. The right state of mind, the
right feeling between nations, is as
. necessary for a lasting peace as is the
Just settlement of vexed questions Of
territory or of racial and national al
: legiance.
. Equality OF Rights.
r "The equality of nations upon which
L |
$ must be an equality of rights; the
e guarantees exchanged must neither
t recognize nor imply a difference be
: tween big nations and small, between
t those that are powerful and those tha'
l are weak. Right must be based upoI
|. the common strength, not upon the in
t dividual strength, Of the nations upo1
e whose concert peace will depend
E Equality of territory, or OF resources
j there of course cannot be; nor any othe
sort Of equality not gained in the ordi
n nary peaceful and legitimate devlop
r ment of the peoples themselves. Blu
f no one asks or expects anything NOR
e than an equality of rights. Mankint
|. is looking now for freedom of life, no
e for equipoises of power
, "And there is a deeper thing in
d volved than even equality or righ
n among organized nations. No peac
g can last, or ought to last, which doe
d not recognize and accept the prime
e ple that governments derive all thei
e lust powers from the consent Of tn
governed, and that no right anywher
,e exists to hand peoples about from SOY
d ereignty to sovereignty as If they wer
il property. take it for granted, for il
,r stance, if may venture upon a sill
,e gle example, that statesmen ever!
1t where are agreed that these should b
ID a united, Independent and autonomou
le Poland, and that henceforth inviolabl
~ security of Life of worship and Of il
IS dustrial and social developmer
is should be guaranteed to all people
a who have lived hitherto under the pOv