A PLAIN QUESTION FOR PEACE TALKERS.
'NEVER since the beginning of the war have there been so many speeches and 'declarations about peace, so many comings and goings, so many excursions and alarms— if the last word be admissible in connexion with peace. And the plain man who yearns for peace (as we all do) asks himself anxiously what is the meaning of this hint and what is the value of that equivocation. That a change has come over the spirit of the German dream is obvious. No longer does a Herr Helfferich imagine Germany receiving tribute and obeisance. from a circle of stricken nations. Now the talk is all of a- restoration of the situation before the -war. But even when this new.sobriety-is admitted, it is very difficult- -at least people appear to find it so—to determine exactly - what the German bloc means by the Reichstag resolution, .what the Chancellor means by his explanation of that reso- lution, and what the Austrian Prime Affiliates moans by his ambiguous statement to -the Austrian Press. We would suggest that all the doubts and complications and glosses and ambiguities can be- brought to a very simple test which will solve them all.
It is perfectly useless to go on collating these things and trying to find truth in the process. No apparatus critics ever. Invented would be adequate for the task. In an article in the Speetaier on July 21st we said that it was natural for the movers of the Reichstag Majority resolution "to be persuasive and tactful, and gently to draw hesitating poli- ticians along with them," but that when all Allowances had been made for Parliamentary finesse there was .no trace whatevec of daring or determination in those who drafted the resolution. We went on to remarlc that the first thing people ready to acknowledge that they had- committed a wrong would be anxious to do would be to give a pledge of future good conduct. That is obvious. The thief who is visited by remorse always desires to give back the money he has stolen ; or if he cannot do that at once, he at least promises to pay it back as soon as he can. But we could not find any hint of such a-pledge of good faith in the resolution, and we went on to say in our. article :— " Sorely the first thing they [the movers of the Reichstag resolu- tion] would tell themselves is that they -must make =made- offer-reparation--for the terrible wrongs they have done to Belgium . and other countries ; and the second thing they would tell them- selves is that the Allies will naturally want some guarantee of security in future. As they do not even mention the. possibility of such things, the words that follow about ' International Courts' signify nothing. In their contest such words are even an offence. What is the use of Courts when the same people remain in power In Germany once more to bring the name of international agreements into contempt and ridicule 1 The popular movement in Germany must go very much farther than this before the Allies eon feel that they are coming into contact at any point with the German people."
The test of good faith on the part of the Germans is, in fine, not to be found in searching analysis of dubious state- menta, but in looking for very simple answers to very simple questions. Men who are yearning to set themselves right with the world do not try to mystify the onlookers. Their sincerity proves itself in frankness and clearness. No one can doubt what men mean when they are in earnest. We do not say that the liberalizing party in Germany are not in some sense sincere. We think that their desire for a demo- cratic Constitution is genuine enough, but their tameness in framing their demands is sickening. Not thus did Ppm and Hampden and Cromwell speak. Pym once said that when a sick man is approached by a murderer he must east sway his medicine and betake himself to his sword, or take his medicine and suffer himself to be killed. The popular move- ment in Germany is suffering itself to be killed. It dare not take the sword against the Chancellor. It swallows a nasty draughts makes a face to show that it does not like it, but is after all incapable of real resistance. If only the demo- cratizers of Germany would reveal a willingness to answer simple questions in a simple way, and would try to make their Government confirm those answers, we should have something to go upon. At present there is nothing. "Will you evacuate Belgium 1 Will you compensate Belgium ? Yes or no ? " These are simple questions, simple tests of sincerity, but all the speeches, articles, and " interviews " in Germany we have yet read do not among them offer a clue to what the answer would be. In our opinion, Mr. Asquith made the most important contribution to the peace debate of Thursday week in his speech proposing just such a simple test as we have described. Let us quote his exact words, for they are very relevant and cogent :— " Both my bon: friends referred to the somewhat vague repudia- tions of the principle of annexation in the Reichstag resolution. I want to put a very- plain and specific question with regard to that. Is Germany prepared not only to evacuate Belgium, not only to make-full reparation for the colossal mischief and damage which have accompanied her devastating occupation of the country, and her practical enslavement, so far as ahe can carry it out, of large portions of the population—is she prepared not. only to do that — this is a very plain question, which admits of a very simple answer— but to restore to Belgium, not the pretence of liberty, but complete and unfettered and absolute independence ? I should lilco to know the German Chancellor's answer to that question, not the answer of the Reichstag. I ask the Chancellor that, I ask him now as far as I may. It is a very simple question, and it is one of many other concrete questions I could put ; it is a question that does not stand alone. I cannot find the answer to that question necessarily implied in the vague andindeterminate formulae of the Reichstag resolution. As I have said, I mention for the moment only a single illustration. If I wont over the map I could easily find half -a-doomsmore; But I do not elaborate the case, because it is far from my wish to prove that pears is impossible. The very opposite in my desire and my prayer, as it is that of every man. I am certain, in every quarter of this HOMO, blIt I cannot see—I wish I could—in what has recently taken place in Der/in any real approximation of a practical kind
to the declared and irreversible objects of the Allies." -
Is it not possible, is it not practical, for all parties in Great Britain to concentrate on trying to extract an answer to that one question- about Belgium ? We do not expect Germany to yield everything at once, but we- might think differently of her state of mind if we had a single pledge of good faith, and at present we have not one. If we may judge the British Pacificists' feelings by their words, we ought to be able to appeal to them with some confidence. They have never said that Germany might keep possession of Belgium. On the contrary, they have declared. explicitly that she must give Belgium up. But unfortunately they keep saying this, an the form of a pious doctrine, to their own country- nice, who are already convinced. They do not say it to the Germans. Why do they not say it to the Germans ? There we must confess ourselves at a loss for an explanation, except the rather- vague and trite one that it is the nature of Pacificista to be rather perverse and ineffectual. We are quite certain we are not mistaken in attributing to Paeificiats here the reservation that no peace is possible till Belgium is evacuated. We have before us Saygestioat for Terms of a Peace Settlement, drawn up by the Union of Democratic 'Control. The very first of the " Sug- gestions ?' is this : "The complete re-establishment of the sovereign independence and integrity and the economic restoration of Belgium must be absolutely moored." The independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania is also demanded ; but it is enough for our argument to dwell only on the ease of Belgium. One of the signatories of these ILD.C. "Suggestions" is Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, the mover of the peace resolution in the house of Commons. Supporters of the resolution in the -House were Mr. Trevelyan, Mr. Snow- den, Mr. Ponsonby, and Mr. Buxton, who are all signatories of the U.D.C. "Suggest-ions." Mr. Trevolyan has emphasized his opinions on this subject more than once. Speaking at Bradford last Saturday, he said that it was "impossible to conceive a peace that would not end in the independence and reparation of Belgium." But when these seekers after peace address the House of Commons they scold their fellow-members for not recognizing the patent good intentions of the German floe!
Why, we ask, one note to this country and quite another to Germany ? Mr. Trevelyan said, indeed, at Bradford that it was the duty of the Government to ask Germany for a pledge to evacuate Belgium ; but why do not the Pacificieta remember whenever they apeak that their own words are greatly treasured in Germany ? If only they would remember this, they would—if they are not utterly perverse and unreasonable, which we fear—address their message entirely to Germany. They would act upon the simple truth that repentance has to come from Germany and not from us. They would try to work upon the feelings of the peace party in Germany, and induce them-to see that there is not the remotest prospect of Great Britain even beginning to think of peace till Germany has promised to evacuate Belgium. But the German readers of their speeches can receive no such impression of their meaning. The Germans always discover in British Pacificist speeches—it is only too easy, alas !--proofs of our complicity, our double-dealing, and our rapacity. This is a great respon- sibility for the Pacificists here to bear—the responsibility of refusing to lead the Germans along the path of peace which the Paeificists themselves have mapped out. Is it hopeless to ask them at last to address to Germany (who is the culprit), and not to Great Britain (who is not the culprit), the simple question that is a real test of the desire for peace ?
The only declaration in Germany which has so far resembled a satisfaction of the simple test we have proposed- is the resolution of the Minority Socialists in the Reichstag. So little has been heard of it here that it is worth quoting.:—
" The Reichstag strives for a peace without annexations of any kind whatever, and without war indemnification—upon the basis of the right of the people to decide their own destinies. In particular it expects the restoration of Belgium and the repair of the wrong done to Belgium. The Reichstag demands, the initiation of . imme- diate peace negotiations upon the foundation of this programme. It demands an international agreement about general disarmament, freedom- of international trade and intercourse, unrestricted-inter- national. freedom of movement, an international- agreement for the protection of workmen from exploitation, recognition of the equal rights of a State without regard to nationality, sex, race, language, and religion, protection of national minorities, and obligatory international arbitration for the settlement of all disputes The urgent preliminary -condition for the achievement of peace and the carrying out of this peace programme is .the immediate raising of the state of siege. Moreover, it is necessary to effect the complete democratisation of the Constitution and Administration of the Empire and its several States, and this must end in the creation of- a social Republic."
The only possible comment on that resolution, we fear, is that very few Deputies supported it, and that even if the whole Reichstag had supported it,it would have made littledifference, since- the Chancellor is indifferent to the opinions- of the Reichstag so long as the High Command- inspires- him, and the Emperor graciously favours him with his confidence. If the Allies would announce jointly that, though-they have no right whatever to dictate a form of government to Germany, they at all events will not make peace wit-h the thrice infamous House of Hohenzollern, we should see the popular movement in Germany advance more rapidly. If it did not, advance, it would be because it did not contain within it the spirit of a mouse.
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