New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

vain. Such possibility flls men 80
vision with the gravest concern "a -
the portentcus possibilities Of the S nres ~
ent peace parlcys.
~ fully recognize that the Preside,.
has an intimate knowledge Of und;s
closed facts that are not accessible to
his fellow citizens. We must assume
that he has, by reason of his laruas
knowledge of facts, wider vision. H.
has doubtless carefully considered ths
grave question whether peace parleys
may not demoralize the Central Powers
in their present hour of temporary suc'
cess far less than the temporarily bat.
lned Allies. Time alone will tell ana
it may be premature to pass judgment
Upon the wisdom of our President,s
/ very skilful parleying with the enemy
"If he succeeds he will be, bevonS
question. the first statesman of the ace
and masterful figure in the greatest
crisis of history. If he fails, and the
right arm of the Allies shall be weak.
ened by the give and take Of This
diplomatic duel, then his will be a verv
heavy responsibility. Our respect for
his greater knowledge and larger vision
makes Us hope that, even though Ber-
lin and Vienna are now decked with the
flag of triumph, the present time for
pitious as would otherwise seem prob.
able.
"1n this connection it is to be noted
that the kaiser suggests no formulas
and makes no promises. Speaking a
/ few days ago to the Burgomaster Of
/ Hamburg on the occasion of the treaty
of peace with the Ukraine Republic. the
| Kaiser said:
owe desire to live in friendship
with neighboring peoples, but the vic
| tory of our German armies must first
be recognized. Our troops under the
| great Hindenburg will continue to win
it. Then peace will come
Kaiser Knows the Formula
Il confess there is to me much that
is practical in what the Eaiser has thus
said. The best way to Secure peace is
to win the war. With my more limited
vision l greatly fear that until the war
is won no satisfactory terms can be
arrived at by compromise. My chief
concern lies in the fact that in the
peace parleys there seems to be a nota-
tlc cresccndo in the note of expedi-
ency and a sponding diminuendo
in the note of justice.
The heavenly vision of punitive JUS
tice, which sent millions to battle in
1914 and 1915, seems to be fading from
the eyes Of men even as the vision of
the first Christmas night faded from
the eyes of the shepherds. No longer
do we hear, at least insstently, either
from London, Rome, Paris or Washing
ton, the statement that the Allies will
not make any peace with the arch
criminals, the Hohenzollern regime.
Our allies are modifying their high
and noble aims to harmonic them with
our attempt to compromise the quarrel
by an exchange of formulas with a
power only last December character
ized as not having sufficient honor for
a 'covenanted peace No longer do we
hear that the men who have violated
international law, outraged the funda-
mental proprieties of civilization. and
reduced the morals of the twentieth
century IN the matter of war to those
of the cave dwellcr, shall be tried and
punished.
Peoples Must Name Terms
fortunately, as this is war of peo-
pies, so in sense it can only be a
treaty Of peace by peoples, and while
be ended by the exchange of ratiioa-
tons, yet the peoples of England,
France and the United States viii not
forget as long as any man now lives
the shameful and countless atrocities
which have made this war the vlest
and ghastliest tragedy that the world
has ever known. The question rises
above formulas, however adroitly
phrased. 1t is, on its last analysis, one
OF moral psychology.
"unless the Prussian is beaten and
knows that he is beaten, all the dead
will have died in vain. for even if a
treaty OF peace could be secured at this
t>ne that would be otherwise favorable
to the Allies. but which left the Hohen-
zollern on his throne. as soon as Ger
many ha. recuperated its strength, as
Prussia did under Frederick the Great,
the life and death struggle between
liberalism and autocracy would be re-
newed
"If we are to have liberal civiliza-
ton, there is no room for the Hohen-
zollern in it. With him or his brood
on the throne the rule of reason viii
cease in international affairs and the
only right will be that of the powers
of destructive chemistry. Civilization
would then be hell, with the Kaiser
and his successors as the possible over
lords.
"The sacred cause of Justice puni
tive justice--must not be compro-
miSed.o