Evening star., 1925-10-18

IA f. tHt Il q II Il /
~ achievement of The To
~ carno Conference. and
am necessarily writing in
advance Of the adjourn
ment, it is clear that il must here
after be taken as Il date in Euro
pean history and it may very well he
accepted as the date which marks the
ira nSition from an old to u new era
For the first time III more than eleven
years German statesmen have sat
about the green table with the states
men of other nations, enemies of the
recent war. and the subject of discus
sion has not been the liquida of
the past but the organization of the
future.
II has patiently taken a long time
to come at this even partial readjust-
ment, indeed the extent of time has
been unprecedented. as comparison
with similar periods in past history
viii show. There is in reality. only
one real parallel. and that is the after
math Of the Napoleonic collapse Yet
almost Immediately France. as con.
trasted with the Napoleonic regime,
resumed its place in the councils II
the great powers and Talleyrand was
factor on the morrow of Waterloo.
The fundamental distinction he.
tween the last and the present World
War settlement has lain almost ex.
clusively in the difference in attitude
of the victorious allies toward the de.
1ealed. A century ago the Kings
who had conquered Napoleon and
overturned his empire represented
themselves To- be friends not enemies
Of France. They affected to believe
even after the rude shock of the
Hundred Days. that France was loyal
nh. e
only established the monarchy. hut
they proceeded to give il their steady
support
Saw Danger of Harsh Terms
Moreover, with a statesma mike Wis.
ion which was not repeated in 1919
they perceived that the sole hope of
: maintaining the Bourbons in Franc
ol eradlcatinG the Revolution and the
Napoleonic Empire was to make
peace on terms which did not carry
enduring injury to France and there
after TO restore France To its self GOV.
{ efnment as promptly as possible In
consequence, While all the conul1eSf :
of the Revolution and the Empire
were remorSelessly separated from
France. the frontiers of 1915 were
only in totally insignificant details diff
: ferent from those of I7S9 and on the
Whole France emerged slightly larger
ana much more consolidated than be
; 1ore the quarter of a century during
which she had fought all Enrope
Again. three years after Waterloo the
AllleS decided 10 withdraw thei,
. armies of occupation. although thei,
stay had been fixed for five wears
in sum the Nictors of 1915 decided
: to let Napoleon be the scapecoat No,
Franc but Napoleon was condemned
as the enemy. This was, of course
sheer nonsense, for France had fol.
lowed Napoleon gladly and accented
the empire completely. such ultimate
rejection AS there had been only came
In the final years when the personal
ambition OF the Emperor no longer 60.
lncided with the national interest. But
: The Nlctors recognized that France
would continue and could easily he.
come again a deadly peril if treated 10.
severely.
\ century later. however. the Vic.
! tors We're not satisfied with any simi.
lar course. Although Germany large.
lN at their beheSt had transformed il
government from "a monarchy. from
many monarChies To one republic
although the soVereiSnS We're in exile
the allies could not in the last ANALYSIS
decide to accept the revolution as
real. the Emperor as responsible for
the past. and undertake by moderat 9
| treatment and prompt welcome int
the international councils to contrib
ute TO the permanenCe of the new re
Sime. Instead. the delegates who
came to Paris to make peace in the
name of Germany, We're inclosed he
+ hind barbed wire and received rs
criminals coming to receive sentence
Sentence Most Severe.
The sentence itself. too was hy
compa ariSon with that of 1915. severe
beyond all words. 1t not only swept
away all the lands momentarily occu
pied during four years of war three
of which were on the whole profit
able to German arms. but it took from
! Germany. or more exactly from PruS
sia. the fruits of nearly two centuries
of expansion. The Germany that was
left was one-seventh smaller than in
1914. and the continuity OF its terri
| tory was interrupted by the Polish
corridor.
Such a sentence came totally uneN
pectadly to the German people, who
were only dimly, if at all. conscious oi
. the state of mind which more thar
! four years of war had created among
/ the enemy peoples. l we'll remember
! that when the German delegation
/ came to Paris to make peace. the
] German journalists who came along
on arrival testified to their pleasure a
! being back in Paris and to their anti
! cipatiOn OF again enjoying the t'rencl
i theaters. rs Il matter of fact they
! never emerged from Versailles ant
their detention there was as much {;
matter Of protection as anything else
| At Paris the Germans were denie,
J the right to speak, to discuss. they
/ were in the end forced to accep
i terms which the whole nation de
/ nounced as fatal to German existence
| and independence. as death sen
! tence. they were also forced to con
| fess to criminal responsibility for thu
war. confession then and now il
! total contradiction OF the nation he
I lief. Whatever may be said Of th'
other clauses of the Versailles Treaty
! this seems to me, on mature reflection
an indefensible circumstance. No
! only were the Germans treated ant
regarded as a "pariah people" by th'
! allied countries, but they were com
PEELED to acknowledge the justice o
this indictment over their own sigma
| ture.
Breach Widened.
Henceforth the breach between th'
allied and German worlds was mor'
complete than even in the bitteres
days of the war. Very far from credit
ing the new republic with any honor
| able Intentions, very far from perceiv
F.! ing that its destruction would insur,
a return of the old regime. the allied
| governments proceeded to treat /
| with exactly the same harshness tha
might have been employed in the cas-,
of the HohenZollern regime.
That the victors could have mad,
peace on terms which Germany would
have accepted as just seems to me i'm
possible. The very territories. the los
! of which Germany most protests. were