Middletown transcript., 1918-02-16

take to hold the new balance of power
steady against external disturbance.
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
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.
i What we are striving for is new IN
ternational order based upon broad
and universal principles of right and
i justice-no mere peace of shreds and
patches. Is it possible that Count Won
Hertling does not see that; doesn't
grasp 1t; is, in fact, living in his
thought in a world dead and gone!
Has he utterly forgotten the Reichstag
| resolutions of the 18th of July, or does
he deliberately ignore them? They
| spoke of the conditions of general
peace; not of national ACKNOWLEDGMENT
| or of arrangements between state and
] state.
The peace of the world depends upon
| the just settlement of each of the sew
eral problems to which L adverted In
my recent address to Congress. /, OF
course, do not mean that the peace OF
the world depends upon the acceptance
of any particular set of suggestions as
to the way in which those problems are
to be dealt with. l mean only that
those problems each and all affect the
whole world; that unless they are dealt
| with in a spirit of unselfish and un-
biased justice, with view to the
| wishes, the natural connections, the
racial aspirations, the security and the
peace of mind Of the peoples involved.
no permanent peace will have been at
tanned. They cannot be discussed
separately or in corners. None of them
constitutes a private or separate In
terest from which the opinion of the
world may be shut out. Whatever af-
fects the peace affects mankind, and
nothing settled by military force, If
settled wrong, is settled at all. It will
presently have to be reopened.
rs Count Won Hertling not aware
that he is speaking in the court Of
mankind; that all the awakened ma
lions of the world now sit in judgment
on what every public man, of what
ever nation, may say on the issues of
a conflict which has spread to every
region of the world? The Reichstag
resolutions of July themselves frank
ly accepted the decisions of that court.
There shall be no anne1ations, no con-
tributions, no punitive damages. Peo-
pies are not to be handed about from
one sovereignty to another by an inter-
national conference or an understand
ing between rivals and antagonists.
National aspirations must be respect
ed; peoples may now be dominated
and governed only by their own con-
sent.
"'Self-determination is not a mere
phrase. It is an imperative principle
of action, which statesmen will hence
forth ignore at their peril. We can
not have general peace for the asking,
or by the mere arrangements Of
peace conference. It cannot be pieced
together out of individual understand
ings between powerful states. All the
parties to this war must join in the
settlement of every issue anywhere
involved in 1t; because what we are
seeking is a peace that we can all
unite to guarantee and maintain and
every item of it must be submitted to
the common judgment whether it be
right and fair, an act of pustice, rather
than bargain between sovereigns.
1.-THE United States has no desire to
interfere in European affairs or to
act as arbiter in European territorial
disputes. She would disdain to take
advantage of any internal weakness or
disorder to impose her own will upon
another people. She is quite ready to
be shown that the settlements she has
suggested are not the best or the most
enduring. They are only her own pro-
visional sketch of principles and of
the way in which they should be ap-
piled. But she entered this war be-
cause she was made a partner, whether
she would or not, in the sufferings and
indfgnities inflicted by the military
masters of Germany against the peace
and security Of mankind; and the con-
ditions Of peace will touch her as near
ly as they will touch any other nation
to which Is entrusted a leading part
in the maintenance Of civilization. She
cannot see her way to peace until the
causes Of this war are removed, its re-
newal rendered as nearly as may be
impossible.
"Thfs war had its roots in the disre-
gard Of the rights Of small nations and
of nationalfties which lacked the union
and the force to make good their claim
to determine their own allegiances and
their own forms Of political life.
Covenants must now be entered into
which will render such things impos-
sible for the future; and those cove
nants must be backed by the united
force of all the nations that love JUS.
tice and are willing to maintain it at
any cost. If territorial settlements
and the political relations of great
populations which have not the organ
lied power to resist are to be deter.
mined by the contracts of the power
full governments which consider them.
selves most directly affected, as Count