The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-02-15

refuses to apply them to the sub
stantive items which must corsti-
tute the body Of any final settle
ment He is jealous Of international
action and of international counsel.
He accepts, he says, the principle
of public diplomacy, but he appears
to insist that it be confined, at any
ratesin this case, to generalities and
that the several questions upon
whose settlement must depend the
acceptance of peace by the twenty
three States now engaged in the
war, must be discussed and settled,
not in general counsel, but several
ly by the nations most Immediately
concerned by interest or neighbor
hood.
Freedom of Seas.
He agrees that the seas should be
free, but looks askance at any limi-
tation to that freedom by interna-
tional action in the interest of the
common order. He would without
reserve be glad to see economic bar
riers removed between nation and
nation, for that could in no way
impede the ambitions of the military
party withi whom he seems con-
strained to keep on terms. Neither
does he raise objection to a limita-
ton of arguments. That matter will
be settled of itself he thinks, by the
economic conditions which must fol-
low the war. But the German col
onies, he demands, must be return
ed without debate. He will discuss
with no one but the representatives
of Russia what disposition shall be
made of the peoples and the lands
of the Baltic provinces; with no one
but the Government of France the
conditions" under which French
territory shall be evacuated, and on
ly with Austria what shall be done
with Poland.
Individual Bargains.
In the determination of all ques@
tions affecting the Balkan States he
defers, as I understand him, to Aus
tria and Turkey; and with regard to
the agreements to be entered into
concerning the non-Turkish peoples
of the present Ottoman Empire, to
the Turkish authorities themselves.
After a settlement all around, ef
fected in this fashion, by individual
barter and concession he would
have no objection, if I correctly in
terpret his statement, to league of
nations which would undertake to
hold the new balance of power
steady against external disturbance.
Won Hertling's Method.
1t must be evident to everyone
who understands what this war has
wrought in the opinion and temper
of the world that no general peace,
no pece 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 me-
thod 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 universal prin
ciples of right and justice-no mere
peace of shreds and patches. Is it
possible that Count Won Hertling
does not see that, does not grasp it,
is in fact living in his thought in a
world dead and gone? Has he utter
ly forgotten the Reichstag resolu-
tions of the nineteenth. of July, or
does he deliberately ignore them?
They spoke of the conditions of a
general peace, not of national ag-
grandizement or Of arrangement be-
tween State and State.
Peace of the World.
The peace of the world depends
upon the just settlement of each of
the several problems to which l ad-
verted in my recent address to the