Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-05-22


opinion holds Kaiser Karrs proposal
to have been sincere. 1t was dealt
with seriously, he says and the matter
was dropped only when it appeared
that x Xxx Austria was still unpre-
pared to accept certain essentials to
which the Allies were bound by in
terest and honor
We can only conclude that when
France and England came to inquire
what Kaiser Karl wanted to exchange
for his concession they found he want
ed them to abandon Italy and Serbia,
and perhaps Rumania and Russia.
This would explain, as well as would
Mr.. Balfour's theory, why Italy was
not permitted by Austria to know OF
the negotiations 1t would also afford
a guess about why the United States
was not permitted to know OF the
treaehery Karl proposed. Then, and
at all subsequent times, Austria was
pretending, in her dealings with the
United States, to high mindedness and
reasonableness.
Reduced to plain language, what
Karl proposed was that France and
Great Britain should betray their
allies, and that in return he would
betray his They would turn over
Italy and Serbia to his mercies, and
he would aid them to take Alsace-Lor-
raine away from Germany And this
he proposed with a straight face and
a clear conscience. To him there was
nothing about the offer which would
excite any disgust in those to whom
he made it, 1t was, he thought, fair
bargain. He must have been greatly
surprised when French and England
declined 1t.
The incident shows how hopeless is
the idea of negotiating with the Teu-
tons 1t is not merely that their terms
are unacceptable; it is that the whole
basis of their thought is something
utterly removed from the world the
rest of us are living in. Germany and
Austria are still living in the Middle
Ages. KarPs proposal is exactly such
proposal as a medieval monarch
might have made to another, with no
more sene of shame than Karl HIM
self felt in making it. When Germany
talks of a negotiated peace" of
peace by understanding and give
and take" this is the sort of thing
she means. Now, the allied nations
cannot even consider a peace of that
kind, or any negotiations based on the
ideas that prevail in Germany and
Austria. The century for that kind of
things has gone by. II the allied gov
ernments were willing to consider a
peace of theft and treaehery - which
Is what a peace by understanding
and give and take''' means-their peo-
pies woHld not permit it; it would be
fatal to any modern and democratic
government TO be suspected of such
Willingness.
Whether Karl proposed this treach-
cry and counter treachery sincerely,
as the French blieve, or at the insti-
cation of Germany as Mr.. Balfour
believes, makes no difference In the
moral Ii makes no. difference in the
moral whether he Hoped to divide the
Allis by bogus offer or hoped to
divide them by a. sincere one. The
moral is that these medieval people
talk & different language from ours;
that their tribe is a different tribe;
and that We cannot talk about "nego-
tiating" with them In any such sense
as that in which we speak about nego-
tiatlng with each other. They are
centuries away from us, and they no
more know what we mean when we
state our war aims than Rollo the
Norsenlan would nave knows" New
York Times.