It is essential for the Great Powers to make it
clearly under- stood that the legal agreements and moral customs of nations which have been so painfully built up by the growth-of civilization cannot: be defied without dire penalties. If this lesson be not taught to every one now, a wonderful opportunity will have been missed. We trust, therefore, that the Americans may agree to the clauses which it is proposed to insert in the Peace Treaty. In.this case -the-unanimity of the Allied and Associated Powersie highly -desir- able, if not indeed necessary, because if the Germans were in a position to say that punishment had been inflicted by nothing better than a majority vote, they could plausibly work up a grievance and pretend that the condemned men were victims of vindictiveness. Whatever happens we shall not be content if something is not done to impress the sense of the world and leave a lasting mark on the memory. If the-Kaiser- is only to be publicly rebuked, it must at all events be by the most severe, the most scathing, verdict ever read out to a humantranagressor.
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