The Pulaskian., 1918-02-22

legiances and their own forms of po- litical life.
 Count von Hertling wants the es- sential bases of commercial and in dustrial life to be safeguarded by com mon agreement and guaranty, but he cannot expect that to be conceded him if the other matters to be determined by the articles ot peace are not han dled in the same way as items in the final accounting.
 "No Foundation for Peace"
 'He cannot ask the benefit of com mon agreement in the one field with out according 1t in the other. I take it for granted that he sees that separ- ate and selfish compacts with regard to trade and the essential materials of manufacture would afford no founda- tion for peace. Neither, he may rest assured, will separate and selfish com pacts with regard to provinces and peoples.
 Count Czernin seems to see the fundamental elements of peace with clear eyes and does not seek to ob- scure them. He sees that an independ- ent Poland, made up of all the indis- putably Polish peoples who lie con- tiguous to one another, is matter of European concern, and must, of course, be conceded; that Belgium must be evacuated and restored, no matter what sacrifices and concessions that may Involve, and that national as- pirations must be satisfied even within his own empire in the common interest of Europe and mankind.
 Seeing and conceding as he does the essential principles involved and the necessity of candidly applying them, he naturally feels that Austria can respond to the purpose of peace as expressed by the United States with less embarrassment than could Ger many. He would probably have gone must further had 1t not been for the embarrassments of Austria's alliances and of her dependence upon Germany.
 After all the test of whether 1t go any further in this comparison of views IS simple and obvious.
 Principles to Be Applied.
 The principles to be applied are these:
 T. That each part of the final set tlement must be based upon the essen tial justice of that particular cause and upon such adjustments as are fn n0 he xxyiff be permanent.
 "2. That peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sover- eighty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever dis credited, of the balance of power; but that,
 "3. Every territorial settlement in volved in this war must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned and not as part of any adjustment or compromise of claims among rival states; and,
 A. That all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the ut most satisfaction that can be accorded them without introducing new or per petuating old clements of discord and antagonism that would be likely in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently of the world.
 "A general peace erected on such foundations can be discussed. Un- til such peace can be secured we have no choice but to go on. So far as we can judge these principles that we regard as fundamental are already everywhere accepted among the spokesmen of the military and annex ationist party in Germany. The trag- ical circumstance is that this one party in Germany is apparently willing and able to send millions of men to their death to prevent what all the world now sees to be just.
 q would not be a true spokesman of the people of the United States if I did not say once more that we en- tered this war upon no small occasion and that we never can turn back from a course chosen upon principle. Our resources are in part mobilized now, and we shall not pause until they are mobilized in their entirety. Our arm les are rapidly going to the fighting front and will go more and more rap idly.
 "Our whole strength will be put into this war of -emancipa- ton from the threat and attempted mastery of selfish groups of autocratic rulers-whatever the difficulties and present partial delays.
 "We Shall Not Turn Back"
 "We are indomitable in our power of independent action and can in no circumstance consent to live in world governed by intrigue and force. We believe that our own desire for a new international order under which reason and justice and the common in- terests of mankind shall prevail is the desire of enlightened men everywhere. Without that new order the world will be without peace and human life will lack tolerable conditions of existence and development. Having set our