Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1918-07-12

| the strange trappings and the print
tive authority of an age that is alto
gether alien and hostile to our own.
The past and tn present are in deadly
grapple, and the peoples of the world
are being done to death between them.
There can be but one issue. The set
Element must be final. There can be
no compromise. No halfway decision
would be tolerable. No half way deci.
sion is conceivable. These are the
ends for which the associated peoples
of the world are fighting and which
must be conceded them before there
can be peace:
The Terms of Peace.
]. The destruction of every arbitrary
power anywhere that can separately,
secretly and of its single choice dis
turb the peace of the world, or, if it
cannot be presently destroy at least
its reduction to virtual impotence.
III. The settlement of every question,
whether of territory, of sovereignty,
OF economic arrangement or of politi-
cal relationship, upon the basis OF the
free acceptance of that settlement by
the people Immediately concerned, and
not upon the basis Of the material in
terest or advantage of any other ma
ton or people which may desire a diff
ferent settlement for the sake of it's
own exterior influence or mastery.
Ill. The consent of all nations to be
governed in their conduct towards each
other by the same principles of honor
and of respect for the common law of
civilized society that govern the indi-
vidual citizens of all modern states in
their relations with one another, to the
end that all promises and covenants
may be Sacredly observed, no private
plots or conspiracies Matched, no selfish
Injuries wrought with impunity and a
mutual trust established upon the
handsome foundation of a mutual re-
spect for right.
~. The establishment of an organi-
cation of peace which shall make it
certain that the combined power of
free nations will check every invasion
of right and serve to make peace and
justice the more secure by affording a
definite tribunal of opinion to which
all must submit and by which every
international readjustment that can
not be amicably agreed upon by the
peoples directly concerned shall be
sanctioned.
Great Objects in One Sentence.
These great objects can be put into
single sentence. What we seek is
the reign of law, based upon the con-
sent of the governed and sustained by
tie organized opinion of mankind.
These great ends cannot be achiev-
ed by debating and seeking to recon-
cile and accommodate what statesmen
may wish, with their projects for bal
ances of power and of national oppor-
tunity. They can be realized only by
the determination of what the thinking
peoples of the world desire, with their
longing hope for justice and for social
freedom and opportunity.
can fancy that the air of this place
carries the accents of such principles
with a peculiar kindness. Here were
started forces which the great nation
against which they were primarily di-
rected at first regarded as a revolt
against its rightful authority, but
which it has long since seen to have
been a step in the liberation of its own
people as well as of the people of the
United States, and l stand here now to
speak-speak proudly and with conf
dent hope-of the spread of this re-
volt, this liberation, to the great stage
of the world itself! The blinded rulers
of Prussia have reused forces they
knew little of-forces which, once
aroused, can never be crushed to earth
again, for they have at their heart an
and a purpose which are
deathless and Of the very stuff of tri-
umph! 80