The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-02-12


Reichstag resolutions OF July themsely,
, frankly accepted the decisions of d
court. There shall be no annexation
no contributions. no punitive damage
! Peoples are not To be handed about frol
, one sovereignty TO another by an inteI
| national conference or an understandin
between rivals and antagonists. Ma
tional aspirations must be respected
} peoples may now be dominated and 20,
erned only by their own consent. Sell
determination Is not II mere phrase
is an imperative principle of actor
which statesmen will henceforth ignor
az their peril. We cannot have genera
peace for the asking, Or by the mere ar
engagements of peace conference. |
cannot be pieced together out of individ
ual understandings between powerful
states. All the parties to this war mus
join in the settlement of every issue any
where involved in it because what W,
are seeking is peace that we can al
unite TO guarantee and maintain ant
every item of il must be submitted u
the common Judgment whether it b,
right and fair, an act OF justice, rather
than bargain between sovereigns.
The United States has no desire to in
terfere in European affairs or TO act as
arbiter in European territorial disputes
We would disdain to take advantage OF
any internal weakness or disorder TO i'm
pose her own VIII 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 of
principles, and of the way in which they
should be applied. But she entered this
war because she was made partner,
whether she would or not, in the suffer.
ings and indignities inflicted by the mill
tary 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 ma
ton TO which is entrusted leading part
in the maintenance of civilization. She
cannot see her way TO peace until the
causes of this war are removed, its re-
newal rendered, as nearly as may be, i'm
possible.
This war had its roots in the disregard
Of the rights OF small nations and of ma
tionalities which lacked the union and
the force to make good their claim TO de
termine their own allegiance and their
own forms OF political life. Covenants
must now be entered into which will
render such things impossible for the
Iuture and those covenants must be
backed by the united force of all the ma
ions that love justice and are willing TO |
il at any cost. III territorial |
and the political relations of |
treat populations which have not the |
organized power to resist are to be de-
ermned by the contracts of the power
al governments which consider them.
elves most directly affected, as Count
on Hertling proposes, why may not eco
omic questions also1 II has come about
n the altered world in which we now
nd ourselves that justice and the rights
{ peoples affect the whole field of in
dealing as much as access to
aw materials and fair and equal condi
ions of trade Count Won Hertling
ants the essential basis of commercial
nd industrial life to be safeguarded by '
)mmon agreement and guarantee; but
e cannot expect that to be conceded to
i'm if the other matters to be deter {
lined by the articles of peace are not :
andled in the same way as items in the
nal accounting. He cannot ask the I
.neft of common agreement in the one i
ED without according il in the other. {
take it for granted that he sees that t
parate and selfish compacts with re-
ird to trade and the essential materials n
manufacture would afford no founda- 5
on for peace. Neither, he may be as IL
red. will separate and selfish compacts $
it'll regard to provinces and peoples. $
Count Czernin seems TO see the funda- il
entail elements of peace with clear eyes "
ID does not seek to obscure them. q
He sees that an independent Poland, e.
ade up of all the indisputably Polish d
opes who lie contiguous to one anoth-
is matter OF European concern and
lst of course be conceded;
That Belgium must be evacuated and N
stored, no matter what sacrifices and
ncessions that may involve; and
That national aspirations must be sat n
led, even within his own empire, in the
: common interest of Europe and man y,
3D. If he is silent about questions "
ieh touch the interests and purposes
his allies more nearly than they touch :.
,se of Austria only, it must of course .
'e, to defer to Germany and Turkey in
/ circumstances. Seeing and coneed- .h
/, as he does, the essential principles ~ ~
olved and the necessity of candidly !
dying them, he naturally feels that III
stria can respond to the purpose of an
ce as expressed by the United States y
h less embarrassment than could Ger Tn
NY He would probably have gone all
ch farther had it not been for the EN- an
of Austria's alliances and eA
her dependence upon Germany, After IN
the test of whether it is possible for PEI
Ter government to go any further in
comparison of views is simple and th'
ious. The principles to be applied wa
these: Ge
irst, that each part of the final settle he
1t must be based upon the essential
ice of that particular case and upon
i adjustments as are most likely to
Ig a peace that will be permanent. III
econd, that peoples and provinces are
to be bartered about from SOW Y
gnty to sovereignty as if they were ems
e chattels and pawns in game, even az
great game, now forever discredited, ,-os
he balance of power; but that, ern
bird. every territorial settlement in ~
ed in this war must be made in the ~
rest and for the benefit of the popula Czse
5 concerned and not as a part of any mo,
aulue'ii . I'm ioi",Se vi Yol
ne aio us va al $50 see' anu, .: inf,
u. IN, 'nsI al, wei usll. ~ "a.lonal circ
@'ioie sn"i NC ~ s' Z, san
'ia''ion tn"' o'n oe a' 'a mem wal
out in.iout0ins nc" Vi PEI Pe'uatihs Dire.
II