Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-12

fected in this fashion by individual
barter and concessions he would
have no objection if 1 correctly in
terpret his statement. to league of
nations which would undertake to
hold the new balance of power
steady against external disturbances.
Want Peace for World
1t must be evident to every one
who understands what this war has
wrought in the opinion and temper
of the world that no general peace,
no peace worth the infinite sacrifices
of these years of tragical suffering,
can possibly be arrived at in any
such fashion. The method the Ger
man chancellor proposes is the
method of the congress of Vienna.
We cannot and will not return to
that. What is at stake now is the
peace of the world. What we are
striving for is a new international
order based upon broad and univer-
sal principles of right and Justice
no mere peace of shreds and
patches"
Is it that Count Hertling does
not see that. does not grasp 1t, is
in fact living in his thought in
world dead and gone? Has he ut
terly forgotten the reichstag reso-
lutions of the nineteenth of July, or
does he deliberately ignore them?
They spoke of the conditions OF
general peace, not of national ag-
grandizement or of arrangements
between state and state. The peace
of the world depends upon the just
settlement of each of the several
so1, o.4r Tod in
recent address to the congress. l,
of course, do not mean that the
peace of the world depends upon
the acceptance of any particular set
of suggestions as to the way in
which those problems are to be
dealt with. 1 mean only that those
problems each and all affect the
whole world, that unless those are
dealt with in a spirit of unselfish
and unbiased justice. with a view
to the wishes, the natural connec-
tions, the racial aspirations, the Sc
curity and the peace of the peoples
involved, no permanent peace will
have been attained. They cannot
be discussed separately or in cor
ners. -.t...
Cannot he Had for Asking
None of them constitutes private
or separate interest from, which the
opinion of the world may be shut
out. Whatever affects the peace at
fects mankind, and nothing settled
by military force, II settled wrong,
is settled at all. 1t. will presently
have to be reopened.
Is Count Won Hertling not aware
that he is speaking in the court of
~ l.
tions of the world now sit in judg-
ment 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 ,decis-
ions of that court. There shall be
no annexations, no contributions, no
punitive damages. Peoples are not
to be handed about from one SOW
ereignty to another by an interna-
tional conference or an understand
ing between rivals and antagonists.
National aspirations must be re-
spected; peoples may now be domi-
mated and governed only by their
own consent self determination"
is not a mere phrase. 1t is an i'm
perative principle of action, which
statesmen will henceforth ignore at
their peril. We cannot have general
peace for the asking, or by the mere
arrangements of a peace confer
ence.
All Must Join in Settlement
1t cannot be pieced together out
of individual understandings be-
tween powerful states. All the par
ties to this 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 guarantee and maintain and
every item of it must be submitted
to the common judgment whether it
be right and fair, an act of justice,