A CHAMPION OF FREEDOM..
Dr this little volume are reprinted a most noble series of State Papers, perhaps the most disinterested pronouncements on tho rights and liberties of free peoples which have ever been mado in the world's history. No one, in high political position among the nations, has seen more clearly and defined more convincingly the ultimate issues for which the world is in travail than has President Wilson. In clarity of thought and loftiness of diction he has been approached, though not excelled, by Mr. Asquith. What may be regarded as the moral aspects of the great struggle are eat forth in this volume, which covers all Mr. Wilson's statements (except one) made between December, 1918, and August, 1917; Mr. Lloyd George's speech at the American Luncheon Club on April 12th, 1917; and Mr. Asquith's speech in the House of Common. on April 18th last. In a quiet, unimpassioned Preface Lord Grey of Fallodon sumo up the effect of the whole series. Both Mr. Wilson and Mr. Asquith arrive at their wonderful effectiveness by way of calmness, There is a judicial deliberation about their condemnation of the German Government which is far more impressive than violence. They speak, both of them, not as advocates, but as judges. We read all the speeches and papers contained in this volume at the Limo when they were made or issued. 1Ve have re-reed them now twice over, and the impression which they have made upon us has been increasedly each perusal. We feel that there judgments will be those of history, and that if this little book could be intro- duced into every horns in the country, and studied there, it would effectively counteract all the propaganda of all the Peril:Joists.
Lon:Wray of Fallodon's preface ia, of course, new. And it has the merit of summing up in the plainest language the significance of the " tremendous fact " of Ameriea'a deliberate entry into the war on the side of demooraoy. From the purely military point of view America's entry makes the ultimate issue certain ; on the moral side it means that the world of the future will be made safe for democracy. Lord Grey of Fallodon is clear upon both aspects " No conceivablemilitary or naval success of the German arms in Europe could now secure a Gorman peaoe. Germany cannot get peace and the economic recovery which she, at Imam much as the other great European belligerents, needs, except on the conditions that the United States may consider essential to their own interests and to the future peace and freedom of tho world. It is impossible to get round this fact, and it is not surprising that Germany dare not face it and turns her back upon it that else may not fees it." Upon the moral side Lord Grey of Fallodon analyses the con- viction, slow in growth, which at last drove America into war. It wee, he writes, a conviction " which gradually became settled, deep, and paramount that this terrible war is a desperate and critical straggle against something evil and intensely clangorous to moral law, to inter- national good faith, to everything that is essential if different nations are to live together in equal freedom-end friendship.... This • Americo and Freedom: Ovine the .Staarnsas. of P. ,,ideal Wilson OP OW Moe With a Preface by the Right lion. Viecosuat Gray. Medan tieerge Agra sal Canis, and the dlltenanan Literature Depot:meat. Its.
conviction, and a sense that the old barriers of the world are broken down by modern conditions,. that the cause of humanity is one, and that no nation so great and free as the United States could stand aside in this crisis without sacrificing its honour and losing its soul; are—so wo believe—the real motive and cause of the decision of the United States... . The United States did not take the decision till German action in the war made It imperative ; but then they took it with a clearness, an emphasis, and a declaration of principle that will be one of the landmarks and shining examples of all human history."
Strong in his own conviction that " militarism and civilization are now incompatible," Lord Grey of Fallodon looks confidently towards the future when the world will be set free. He is unmoved by German " peace " propaganda, which simply means thatthe Prussian military class seeks to save itself before safety becomes impossible for it. He sees no real desire on the part of the German Government for any peace which would be compatible with the liberty of nations. He claims that the root of the matter is contained in President Wilson's words : " A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honour and partnership of opinion." His hopes for the future are based on the unity of sentiment which inspires the free democracies of the world, and on the change of attitude towards international relations which this unity will bring about. He looks forward to the time when even the Central Powers- will be free and can live in peace and good fellowship with Great Britain, and France, and Italy, and Russia, and the United States. But before this happy consummation can be reached the Prussian " will to power " must be destroyed. " Militarism and civilization are now incompatible."
The whole doctrine of liberty and goodwill as between nations, groat and small, is contained in President Wilson's statements. Together they form the perfect text-book. What could more lucidly describe the end for which we pour out our blood and treasure than this paragraph from his speech to the United States Senate un January 22nd last 1- " I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world : that no nation should seek to extend its polity over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own polity, its own way of develop- ment, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful."
Then again, before Congress on April lad, when he had decided that war must be declared against Germany " We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct sad responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among individual citizens of civilized States." This pronouncement cute completely away the base of the Premien theory of the super-State untrammelled by any re- striction of morals or laws or dictates of humanity, a State not responsible to God or man, a State pursuing its " will to power " by any means which can secure the ends of those who direct it. Civilization and the super, non-moral, irresponsible State are incompatible.
The German desire for peace, before the tremendous issues of the war are decided, is swept aside by Mr. Wilson as a trap set in the sight of its intended victims. In the Monument Grounds at Washington on June 14th lie gave the answer of America:— "From Hamburg to the Persian Gulf the net is spread. Is it not easy to understand the eagerness for peace that has been mani- fested by Berlin ever since this snare was set and sprung f ' Peace, peace, peace,' has been the talk of her Foreign Of for a year or more, not peace upon her own initiative, but upon the initiative of the nations over which the now deems herself to hold the advantage. A little of the talk has been public, but most of it has been private, through all sorts of channels. It has come to me in all sorts of guises, but never with the terms disclosed which the German Government would be willing to accept."
That is the German method. The German people long for peace, their Army and Navy are weary of war, but to the German mili- tary Government the cry of peace is a trap in which it is hoped that the Allies will be so foolish as to be caught. The German Government has no idea at all of making a peace which will leave it shorn of its power for evil in the future.
We should like to see this little book printed in millions of copies at the national expense and carried into every household in this country.
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