The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-19

adoX-we are fighting for peac'
One does not need to witness with
ones own eyes, as I did last week.
when I went over the French and
I Flemish battlefields the actual DESC
lation of war. to feel that the attain
ment of peace is at this moment the
supreme interest of mankind. 1t is
worth any sacrifice-except the sacri-
flee of the things which make peace
worth having, and which ensure it's
stability, by basing it on a solid rock
of right, internationally recognized
and guaranteed.
Peace in this sense is not to be
| found, as it has so often been sought
| in the past, in a cessation of active
hostilities, followed by a process of
territorial bargaining, to be embodied
ultimately in paper protocols and
pacts, and left there at the mercy
of the chapter of accidents which Gas
someone has wisely said) is the Bible
| of Fools.
Bismarck, Moltke, and Alsace
Still less can you look for a peace,
which is worthy of the word, in any
arrangement imposed by the victor of
the vanquished, which ignores the
principles of right, and sets at def
ance the historic traditions, the as
pirations, and the liberties of the peo-
pies affected. Such so-called treaties
contain within themselves, their own
death warrant, and simply provide a
fertile breeding ground for future
wars.
We have a crucial example of the
folly and futility of transac tions OF
this kind in the treaty of 1871, when
victorious Germany insisted on dis
membering conquered France by ap-
propriating, in defiance of the will of
the inhabitants, her two provinces of
Alsace and Lorraine.
It is we'll, at this time, to recall
that the two greatest men in Ger
many-Bismarck and Moltke-ap-
pear to have foreseen the conse-
of view. Bismarck was not over scru-
pulous, but there are indications that
he was shrewd enough to suspect that
the policy of annexation successfully
pressed by the military authorities
was not only crime-he might have
let that pass-but a blunder.
Moltke's Famous Prophecy
We know that he was inclined to
let France keep Metz, remarking sig
nificantly to his henchman Busch: 81
don't want to have too many French
men in our house" And Moltke-
whose opinion prevailed-what was
his forecast of the cost? You will find
il recorded by Sir Charles Dixie 50
far back as 1875 in the admirable
biography which has just been pub
lished by Miss Tuckwell and Captain
Gwynn. Germany" said Moltke In
the Reichstag, and remember. he was
speaking less than four years after
the Treaty of 1871, Germany mus
stand armed to the teeth for SO years
to defend the provinces which it tooH
her but six months to win"
Was ever a prophecy more fully
verified by the event? By far the
larger share of the calamities which
are now devastating the world is tt
be traced directly or indirectly, to thf:
single act of International spoilation
and its inevitable consequences.
German Reply to the Pope
Is there any reason to think thai
Germany has learnt the lesson? W.
have been reading during the las
few days the reply of the new Ger
man Chancellor to the Papal note I
| teens with nebulous and unctuou
generalities. The German govern
ment tells US that it welcomes tn
special sympathy the Pepe's ICON
viction' that Gin the future the ma
terial force of arms must be super
seeded by the moral force of right
1t will delight in the substitution Q
arbitration for war, and will in thi
p respect support every proposal whic
: (note the significant proviso)
y compatible with the vital interest
of the German Empire and people.
This is quite in the later manner c
: Bismarck himself, who, after h
. ceased to be Chancellor, came yer
q near, in profession, at any rate, t
> being what in these days would b
: called pacifist.
q Belgium-Definite Reply Wanted
n But 1 ask, is there in the Chance
n lor's dispatch, or in any recent an
authoritative declaration of the Gel
man government, any indication ths
lit is prepared not only to repeat tn
Y crime of 1871, but to take any of tn
practical steps which alone can ope
: the road to a real and lasting peace
= Is Germany ready to restore whs
Il she then took away from France?
e Or, to put again another concret
: test, in a question which have ash
: ed before and which is still unansweI
h ed, is she ready to give back to Be
o GUM her full ndependence-poIit
J, land economic-without letters or res
IexEatinns, and with as compieEe a