The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-10-28

those who followed closely the re-
ports of the advance of the Germans
and retreat of the allies between
March and July Of this year must have
noticed that the Germans used enor-
nous quantities of munitions in Great
| ing harrages of artillery fire and had
a preponderance of poison gas and
| liquid fire. To these causes. in addi-
| ton 10 a superiority of force at the
| point of contact. the retreat of the al
| les was due. For more than ninety
days now the Germans have been in
retreat. and while the reports do not
indicate that the allies have made ex-
tensive use OF poison gas and liquid FIRE
| they do constantly speak of the ad
mirable artillery barraCes set up by
the Americans and their allies: while |
no mention ia made of the German ar
tllery except to record the enormous
number of pieces of all calibres-about
| 1000 in afl-which have been captured. |
The Germans have also lost enormously
in prisoners tnearly 500, 000( and ma |
chine guns, (about 40 G00) showing a |
lack Of morale the part of their
men.
The German attack last spring was
DELAYED for several weeks beyond the
expected time, probably in order to in
crease the stores of artillery projec-
tiles. These were used literally by the
thousands of tons: and when these
We're exhausted and the allied attack
was begun under master of war ex-
ercising unified command, their re-
/ treat was inevitable. But il is not de-
/ tracing in any way from the genius
lof MARSHAL Foch to say that without a
preponderance of artillery the victories
I he has gained would have been impos-
sible, Nor ia IL wise to reach the con-
lciusion that the German morale is per-
| manently lost, or that IL would not be
} r4EI ].tVI -.
advantage in artillery, IL they can
gain time in which to accumulate
store Of projectiles such as they had
Last spring, there is ground to believe
that they will fight as vciously as
/ they ever did, But they must have
more ammunition. Hence their fran
! tic efforts TO obtain an armistice
They will leave nothing untried to ac-
I compltsh this, and IL they succeed they
Will win a very different kind of peace
from that which will otherwise be
forced upon them
| There is a widespread, almost unan~
! tmous, opinion that the matter of an
tarmistlce should be referred to Marshal
Foch, az allied commander in chief,
and II may help US to think clearly on
this point Ii we refresh our memories
as 10 the nature Of an armistice or
truce. These words are spoken OF in
most dictionaries as synonymous. but
there is distinction If not differ
ence between them. Every armistice is
IA truce hut not every truce Ia an
Garmistiee. One is generic. the other is
ispecihc A truce is usually temporary,
an armistice is almost always ended by
neing merged into permanent treaty
Of peace, A truce may be arranged be-
tween persons. natural or corporate, in
time OF peace: an armistice is a suspen-
- s...s,t,f~ iro~rttftirs -rerween armies at
do nj IRA al in tfv,rv
tween the commanders thereof. Ii one
Iarmy is prepared and has signfed its
Willingness to surrender. to give up it's
farms. to change In status from that
LOT comhatants. to prisoners of war,
ishes tsae commander m the field liz able
Fto aeal Win the matter without any
instructions from his government Our
Town wars furnish numerous examples
Iof thiS~-Saratoga, Yorktown, Donelson,
Nicksburg. Appomattox. Santiago, Ma
niia--~in each case the enemy had
agreed to surrender its arms and an
armistice OF a few hours or days was
arranged in order to work out the de-
tails But II commanding general
undertakes to stipuir!e terms of peace
in his armistice or rs terms OF sur
render, he does so az his peril. The
classic case Is that of Shermans armis-
tice with Johnston in 1865. which was
ldisavowed by his government and he
ienemy surrender as prisoners of war
leaving the terms of peace to be de-
Itermlned by the government
similarly in Europe. the surrenders
iof the armies at Sedan, Metz. Plevna
land Shipka were simply military capt.
tulations. the details of which had been
arranged in armstices Of brief dura-
ton which contained no reference to
the terms of peace.
To refer the request for an armistice
Ito Marshal Foch is no solution Of the
problem which now confronts the ru1-
ers of the nations at war. All he could
do would be to send a flag of truce de-
Imanding a surrender Of the German
forces between Client and Belfort as
prisoners of war That IL would be re-
fused hardly admits of doubt. Later
on the allies may be in position to
make and enforce such demand, but
at the present time they are not in po-
ston to enforce 1t, and II is doubtful
if anything would be gained--some-
thing might be lost--by making q fu-
| tile demand.
| 1t is nevertheless true that wars al
most invariably end lin an armistice,
But this takes place only when the
terms Of peace have been agreed upon.
Such agreement is an act of the SOW
ereign or treaty making power and not
OF the military commander. In our
war with Spain, when Spain was
| hopelessly beaten. she authorized the
French ambassador at Washington to
enter into a written protocol with the
American secretary of state in which
Spain definitely agreed to relinquish
her sovereignty over Cuba, TO cede
! Porto Rico To the United States. and
l to determine the future Of the Philip
pines by treaty Of peace to be ne
gotfated in Paris. 1t was only after
| the fundamentals of peace had thus
| been definitely agreed upon that the
president sent instructions. on August
| IL. 1898. to the military commanders to
suspend Possibilities by means Of armis-
itice. These continued until the treaty
| of peace was ratified six months later.
When Turkey was at the mercy Of
Russia in January, 1878. Turkish plen-
ipotentaries We're sent through the
lines to meet Russian plenipotentiaries
at Adrianople. IT was only after they
had agreed upon terms of peace that
an armistice was ordered on January
81 This continued until the dednitive
treaty was signed on March ..
When France was defeated In 1870
her representatives endeavored from