Norwich bulletin., 1918-09-28

states. Individual statesmen may have started the conflict, but neither they nor their opponents can stop it as they please. It has become d peo- pie's war and peoples of all sorts and races, of every degree of power and variety of fortune, are involved in it's sweeping processes of change and set tlement. We came into it when it's character had become fully defined and it was plain that no nation could stand apart or be indifferent to it's out come. Its challenge drove to the heart of everything we cared for and lived 1 for The voice of the war had become ciear and gripped our hearts. Our brothers from many lands. as well as our own murdered dead under the sea, were calling to us. and we responded, tiercely and of course.
 The air was clear about us. We saw things in their full, convincing Proportions as they were; and we have seen them with steady eye and un- Ichanging comprehension ever since. We accepted the issues of the war as facts, not as any group of men either here or elsewhere had defined them, and we can accept no outcome which | does not squarely meet and settle | them. Those issues are these:
 Shall the military power of any na- | tion or group of nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no right to rule eX- ct pt the right of force?
 1 Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and make them subject 10 their purpose and interest
 Shall peoples be ruled and domi- mated, even in their own internal af- Fr,r sl>1 force or by their own will and choice
 Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege for all peoples and nations or. shall the strong do as they will and the weak suffer without redress? A
 Shall the. assertion of right bc haphazard and by casual alliance ol shall there be a common concert tC oblige the observance t of common rights?
 No. man, no group of men, chose these to be the issues of the struggle They are the issues of it; and they must be settled-by no lrransemen CT compromise or adjustment of in terests. but definitely and once for al and with full and uneqliiNocai ac- iceptance of the principle that the in terest Of the weakest is as sacred as tEe interest of tic strongest.
 This is what wer' mean when Vt speak of a permanent peace, if ", speak sincerely, intelligently and witt a real knowledge and comprehension
 of the matter we deal with.
 | We are all agreed that there cal
 be no peace obtained by any kind o
 bargain or compromise with the gov ernments of the central empires, be cause we have dealt with them al
 ready and have seen them deal wit
 other governments that were partie
 to this struggle. at Brest -Litovsk an i 1 Bucharest. They have convinced u . that they are without honor and d
 not intend justice They observe n
 covenants. accept no principle bu force and their own interest. w
 cannot come to terms with then , They have made it impossible. Tn
 German people must by this time i fully aware that we cannot accer the word of those who forced this wa upon us. We do not think the sam
 thoughts or speak the sande languag of agreement. @
 Tt is of capital importance that " , should also be explicitly agreed tha no peace shall be obtained by any kin ; of compromise or abatement of tn ) principles we have avowed as tn
 
 ? There should exist no doubt abou ' that. l am. therefore. going to talk ) the liberty of speaking with the ut most frankness about the practice ! implications that are involved in f If it be in deed and in truth tn
 common object of the governments as 1 sociated against Germany and of tn Q nations whom they govern, as beliey r 1t to be, to achieve by the comin l settlements secure and lasting peac Q it will be necessary that all who S l down at the peace table shall con = ready and willing to pay the price, tE . only price that will procure it; an D Iready and willing. also, to create e some virile fashion the only instru . mentality by which it can be mad r certain that the agreements of u Q peace will be honored and fulfilled. . That price is impartial justice t every item of the settlement no ma Q ter whose interest is crossed; and m Q only impartial justice, but also u r satisfaction of the several peopl, : whose fortunes are dealt with. Tn; r indispensable instrumentality is n League of Nations formed under GOV f enants that will be eff1cacious. Witt e out such an instrumentality, by whiC l the peace of the world can be guaral