The Washington herald., 1918-02-12

nonor OF addressing you on the OBJ
1ects Of the war as. our people con-
ceive them. The prime minister Of
Great Britain had spoken In SIM
liar terms on the 5th Of January.
To these addresses the German
chancellor replied on the 24th, and
Count Ozernin, for Austria. on the
same day. 1t Is gratifying to have
our desire so promptly realized that
all exchanges OF view on this great
matter should be made in the hear
ing of all the world.
Count Czernin's reply, which Ii
directed chiefly to my own address
on January s. Is uttered in a very
friendly tone.
He finds in my statement a suffi-
ciently encouraging approach to the
justify him believing that It fur
nishes a basis for a more detailed
discussion Of purposes by the two
governments. He is represented to
have intimated that the views he
was expressing had been communi-
Gated to me beforehand and that 1
was aware Of them at the time he
was uttering them; but in this am
sure he was misunderstood. / had
received no intmation of what he
intended to say. There was, of
course, no reason why he should
communicate privately with me.
am quite content to be one OF his
public audience.
Vague and Confusing Reply.
Count Won Hertling's reply Is, 1
must say, very vague and very
confusing. It is full of equivocal
phrases and leads 1t is not clear
where. But, 1t is certainly in a
very different tone from that of
Count Czernin. and apparently of
an opposite purpose. 1t confirms,
l am sorry to say. rather than re-
moves. the unfortunate impression
made by what we had learned of
the conferences at Brest-Litovsk.
His discussion and acceptance Of
our general principles lead him to
no practical conclusion.
He refuses to apply them to the
substantive items which must con-
stitute the body Of any final set
tlement. He Is Jealous of interna-
tional action and of international
counsel. He accepts, he says, the
principle of public diplomacy, but
he appears to insist that 1t be con-
fined, at any rate in this case, to
generalities and that the several
particular questions of territory
and sovereignty. the several ques-
tions upon whose settlement must
depend the acceptance of peace by
the twenty-three states now en-
gagged in the war, must be dis
cussed and settled, not In general
council. but severally by the ma
tions most Immediately concerned
by interest or neighborhood. He
agrees that the seas should be
free, but looks askance at any lin
itation' to that freedom by inter-
national action in the interest Of
the common order. He would
without reserve be glad to see
economic barriers removed be-
tween nation and nation, for that
could in no way impede the ambi-
tions OF the military party with
whom he seems constrained to
keep on terms. Neither does he
raise objection to a limitation of
armaments.
That matter will be settled of
itself, he thinks, by the economic
conditions which must follow the
war. But the German colonies, he
demands, must be returned with
out debate. He will discuss with
none but the representative 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 evacu-
ated; and only with Austria what
shall be done with Poland. In the
determination of all questions af-
fecting the Balkan states he de-
fers. as I understand him, to
Austria and Turkey; and with re-
gard to the agreements to be en-
tered into concerning the nom
Turkish peoples of the present Ot-
toman Empire, to the Turkish au-
thorities themselves. After a set-
tlement all around, effected in this
fashion, by individual barter and
concession, he would have no OBJ
lection. IL I correctly interpret his
statement, to a league of nations
which would undertake to hold the
new balance of power steady
against external disturbance.
Peace Of World at Stake.
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
German 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 universal prin-
cipals of right and justice-no
mere peace of shreds and patch
es. Is it possible that Count Won
HertlinG does not see that, does
not grasp 1t, Is in fact living
in his thought in a world dead
and gone? Has he utterly for
gotten the Reichstag resolutions
'of the1s of July, or does he de-
liberately ignore them? They
spoke Of the conditions of a gem
eral- 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 problems to which /
adverted in my recent address TO
the GciazEass