The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-02-15

is COunC Won 1erCllnS HOL aware
that he is speaking in the court of
mankind, that all the awakened ma
tions of the world now sit in judg-
rnent on what every public man, OF
whatever nation. may say on the is
sues of a conflict which has spread
to every region of the world? The
Reichstag resolutions of July them
selves frankly accepted the decisions
of that court. There shall be no an
nexations, no contributions, no pun
tive damages. Peoples are not to be
handed about from one sovereignty
to another by an international con-
ference or an understanding be-
tween rivals and antagonists. Ma
tional aspirations must be respected
peoples may now be dominated and
governed only by their own consent.
"Self determination is not a mere
phrase. 1t is an imperative princi-
pie of action, which statesmen will
henceforth ignore at their peril. We
cannot have general peace for the
asking, or by the mere arrange
ments of a peace conference. 1t can
not be placed together out of indi-
vidual undertakings between power
full States. All the parties to the
war must join in the settlement of
every issue anywhere involved in it;
because what we are seeking is a
peace that we can all unite to guar
antee and maintain and every item
of it must be submitted to the COM
mon Judgment whether it be right
and fair, an act of justice, rather
than a bargain between sovereigns.
No Desire to Interfere.
The United States has no desire
to interfere in European affairs or to
act as arbiter in European territor-
ial disputes. She would disdain to
take advantage of any internal
weakness CT disorder to impose her
own will upon another people. She
is quite ready to be shown that the
settlements she has suggested are not
the best or the most enduring. They
are only her own provisional sketch
aof principles and of the way in
which they should be applied. But
she entered this war because she
was made a partner, whether she
would or not, in the sufferings and
indignities inflicted by the military
masters of Germany, against the
peace and security of mankind; and
the conditions of peace will touch
her as nearly as they will touch any
other nation to which is entrusted a
leading part in the maintenance of
civilization. She cannot see her way
to peace until the causes of this
war are removed, its renewal rem
dered as nearly as may be impossi-
BILE.
Roots of War.
This war had it's roots in the dis
regard of the rights of small ma
tions and of nationalities which lack
ed the union and the force to make
good their claim to determine their
own allegiances and their own forms
of political life. Covenants must
now be entered into which will rem
der such things impossible for the
future; and those covenants must be
backed by the united force of all the
natinos that love justice and are
willing to maintain it at any cost. If
territorial settlements and the politi-
cal relations of great populations
which have not the organized power
to resist are to be determined by the
contracts of the powerful govern
,ments which consider themselves
most directly affected, as Count Won
Hertling proposes, why may not eco
nomic concessions? 1t has nome
about in the altered world in. which
we now find ourselves that justice
and the rights of peoples affect the
whole field of international dealing
as much as access to raw materials
and fair and equal conditions of
trade.