The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-07-14

vi HUIUHL LHUUn
Of PEACE ENDED.
CONTINUED From First Page.)
raises new problems. He will come to
Moscow and P%etrograd as the champion
OF a restored Russia, Of a reunited Rus
STA and II Is conceivable that he will
consent, that his countrymen will con-
sent TO any treaty by which the ma
tions, yesterday Russian allies. shall
have apportioned Russian territories
between the several border states,
erected a new Poland. liberated Finland,
allocated Bessarabia to Rumania and
recognized the independence Of the sew
eral tribes Of the Battle provinces?
Instead Of accepting such a situation
is II not almost inevitable that the new
Russia. the restored Russia will join
leads with Germany in a new partition
Baltic lands, which shall reproduce
the situations which has existed stead
lily since the policies Of a great Russian
and n great Prussian, Peter and Fred
erick, brought Russia 10 the Baltic and
excluded Poland from the open sea?
II Russia we're condemned always to
be the thing II is, II would be easy to
settle all the questions now raised; If
Russia were conquered after a war
waged against Britain, France and
Italy, then terms like those imposed
upon Germany would be possible. But
neither the one nor the other condition
Is fulfilled. Russia was long an ally
and made a separate peace, but does
this justify her recent allies In treating
her as an enemy and dividing her ter
ritories, cutting her off from the Baltic
in effect ratifying the terms Of the
treaty which her enemy Germany. inn
posed upon her, sword in hand, at
Brest- Litovsk?
Unfortunately the progress of events
at Paris has already resulted in the
permanent alienation Of Italy, nothing is
more certain than that, once the chance
comes, Italy will return to her old Ger
man alliance. To insure that Russia,
when she does become q great power
again, as she almost certainly must. be-
cause Of the fashion in which her old
allies have treated her. shall also turn
to the Germans is to provide for a new
war, with every chance in favor OF a
victory by the new alliance.
Is Real Problem.
The real difficulty which confronts
Ailt IIlt WV hdNV W buAAs III AiS FS'N
of peace making Is the puzzle about
Russia. We have recognized the indie
pendence OF Finland, but Kolchak fatty
refuses to recognize 1t on his part, We
recognized the claim of Poland TO free
dom, which Kolchak also comedies, but
what is to be Poland's eastern limit?
The boundaries Of old Russian Poland?
But the Polish armies are in wilma,
Minsk and Kovel, fighting Bolshevist
forces. Certainly II Kolchak will not
recognize the Independence of Finland,
he will not consent to the separation of
Lithuania, White Russia and Volhynia
from the old Muscovite state.
Nor Is the dispute merely between
the Pole and the Russian here. On the
contrary, the Poles desire TO restore the
| old confederation between Lithuania
and Poland, while the Lithuanians de-
sire unconditional independence, and
even II this were granted there Is still
to be settled the age-long difference
between the peoples as to their bounda-
ries. II the Paris conferences gives
Poland White Russia n L~ithuania, II
~alienates the Russians and the Lithuan-
ians; II II does not 1t alienates the
Poles. II II returns the Lithuanians to
Russia II ~alienates both these peoples
and the Poles and does violence to the
right Of self determination OF peoples
Then there Is the problem of Riga
Of Libau, of the provinces Of the Cour-
land. Esthonia and Livonla, with a Ger
tain minority of German inhabitants
and a strong separatist sentiment. TIC
take these away from Russia would be
to undo the work OF Peter the Greai
n IA Russia without access to thu
Baltic. But precisely these people ar
making. with allied help. a gallant figh'
against the Bolshevlst Russians; shal
they be. rewarded by betrayal to tn,
Russians? II they are, they will un
q~uestionably fight with German aid
German troops are still there-agains
Russia, until such time as Russia ant
Germany come TO terms over the Who'll,
set of questions that concern them. l
Is, then, no simple tangle, this prob
lem Of the Baltic and Polish hinter
lands.
In solving it the main question vii
necessarily be the self-interest Of tn,
western powers, II would be die t
expect Great Britain and France t,
ALLEVIATE Russia by cedlng her territories
to Poland and one or more Independent
Baltic states, thus insurlng a speed.
combination of Russia and Germany t
undo this work.
The fact that every European reeog
niEes and most Americans disregard |
that the German victory over Ruasi
destroyed the balance OF power in Eu
rope, which was restored only when W
sent great armies to the continent
These armies have mostly departed
their return under any circumstances /
at least p~roblemAtical; therefore, II |
Of utmost Importance to the westerl
powers, II they expect to exist, to pre-
vent an alliance between Russia an
Germany, which would be almost ire
sistable, This can only be avoided,
at all, by so framing the terms o
peace as to not dissatisfy the Russia 0
tomorrow, which, they must assume
will be strong and mindful Of its his
, toric greatness.
Fear Big Mistake.