Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-24
PEACE CONFERENCES y :.
OF OTHER AGES AND
THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS
Versailles Will Face Complex Prob
len1s---Seeds of World War Scum =
s-.- at Former Gatherings. :.


of revolution. The consequences Of
this deliberate program are seen With
clarity only now, when Prussia, Rus
STA and Austria have fallen into ruins.
The Hapsburgs, the Romanons and
the Hohenzollerns, who framed the
document of Vienna. are gone-in en-
publican, Europe is unbound. Yete
this deliberation has taken a full CEN
fury; only now is Poland rising fromrs
the servitude imposed more than a
century ago; only now is Italy re-
deeming the last of her Latin breth-
rem from Austrian chains.
The purposes expressed in the con-
gress of Vienna, the principles estab,
lished there, were soon repudiated by
France; they were never formally acH-
cepted by the British, who. seeking
protection against new French men
aces, consented rather than agreed TO
the decisions. They were banished
from Italy within half century.
but they prevailed in Russia, in Aus---
tria and in Germany to the very
hour when the present confAct came.
They were revealed again in the con---
gress of Berlin, where Britain was
again harnessed to the chariot OF re.
action, this time through fear OF
Russia; and France, newly beaten ana
mutilated, was helpless. For fuii =
century, therefore, the evil done at
Vienna has endured and its inevitable
harvest has been the world war.
Peace of Utrecht Different.
The peace Of Utrecht. a century
earlier, was a different order of set
Element It terminated a war between
kings rather than between nations. 1t
ended the effort of Louis XIV to domi-'~
nate the whole continent. No ques-s.
ton of liberalism was in any mind;
| the single purpose was to preserve the
victory achieved. to insure Europe
against new French aggressions. Un-A
like the conditions existing now ana
existing in the time of the congress
of Vienna, there was no military De-
cision in advance of the making OF
peace. The floodtide of French sue
cess had long passed. Blenheim.
Families and Malplaquet had broken
| the military might of France, but the
French armies were still strong.
| Actually there was no general con-
gress and no single document OF settle
ment. Separate peace was made be-
! tween, France and her enemies. The
terms of the peace left to Louis most Of
his conquests. which were mere extern
sions of French rule to territories in--
habited by French populations. 1t left
him those districts in Flanders which
have seen such terrible fighting in tho
present conflict; it confirmed hR hold
upon Alsace, but it rescued the Belgian
lands from him and established for.
France the frontiers which. save on the,
side of Italy, subsisted until the Franco
Prussian war and are now to be re---
stored. go.
Westphalia, Peace Without Victory
AS for the settlement of Westphalia."-
like that of Utrecht, it was peace by ne---
gotiation. without victory. 1t ended the
thirty years war; 1t established the
principle of religious liberation: 1t mark
ed the rise of France as a great state; It
n.
archy; it left Germany broken mass OF
ldisunited states. 1t was a real settle
ment so far as the religious issue was
concerned; in all else 1t was no settle =.
ment. but rather cessation on war ~,
/ statesmen who gather ut Versailles
| with that Of their predecessors at :
| Vienna and at Berlin. Their task
than a century ago. They have TO
| make a new map OF Europe: iney
have to deal with the racial ana
nationalistic aspirations OF more peos
the Vienna era ruled over. They
| have ito erect new nations larger
than any German state in 1873. They
have to resolve Austria -HungarS
the Balkan rivalries, to dispose OF
the Turk in Asia as well as N
Europe. They have the Polish PROB
lem on their hands with all It's CON-
|
colonies problem.
Riyalries Fewer Now.
And beyond these questions OF terri.
tory and nationality there are the
stupendous tasks growing out OF the
anarchy. Fortunately. in one respeci. !.
the victorious nations are FAR better
placed than those of 1875 There are
almost no rivalries as among them
United States have no conflicting
purposes. italian aspirations are onW.-
possible sources of trouble. where the
Italians disagree with the Slavs ana
the Greeks over Adriatic and aegean
} Differences can come out only OF prin.
ciples rather than territory; Tnae
! they may come is apparent when one
rseognizss fSr e SisMs be TIVE e Great
Britain and President Wilson oven N
the question of the freedom OF the
seas"
respect to Germany does not lessen
our difficulties in realizing them Soa'
. cialistic Germany will resist must re-., =.
sist, for it's own existence Will pc I'm.
peri1ed. it will almost inevitably ran
before the extreme elements, II 1t as7
cepts peace with the burden OF many
billions of indemnities. It cannot re''
sist militarily. precisely as Russia =
could not resist the UNJUST CUuuilAoio
of Brest-Litovsk, but 1t can refuse To-
sign. ~
Russia Is Problem.
Nor is it easy to see how we can :
negotiate until Germany has achieved
! some form of recognized government
that is, until the revolution has~
been accepted by the German people
. at a general election. What is DONE
: by the representatives of the present.
regime may be repudiated by the ma
ton. Moreover, no settlement Is corr
, ceiyable that leaves Russia out or the -
. reckoning, and how are we to deal
, with Russia?
+ In one sense a peace congress "a.
1 simple. We have the power to write
4 such terms as we please. to write inc "
) terms which express our Just ciaiRs-
! against Germany territorially ana
. ofherwise. but to enforce them with
/ respect Of indemnities is another
4 matter. We can occupy German ter.
, ritory as the Germans occupies
French territory in 1871 and as the
allies occupied French territory atter
Waterloo, but IL revolution like the
, Russian upheaval is in progress IN
{ Germany this will not aid us to get
indemnities. -
r If what is now taking place in all
: of central Europe should turn QUE"
: to be but the prelude to a revolution
. of the Russian type, then any peace
9 negotiated at Versailles might prove
. a dead letter, or at least would be
5 suspended for a long period OF time
= Wfrile Germany was in the throes OF
: revolt, and the very consequences or