Repository: UIHistories Project: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 13 [PAGE 10]

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rsuLennCM of a conquered foe', and this war will not |JC how over or whenever it closes, until, fifty or seventy-five years / ^ now, biiterness is forgotten and the spirit of 'live and let livc^" accepted by all the nations concerned, those who are beaten as well " those who win. Hut how shall we know? How can we tell whether and when Germany either accepts or submits to the great condition that autocracy must he destroyed and the principle of self-determination and self-government, the principle that right makes might, established and obeyed? The answer is that, "By their fruits ye shall know them." If Germany were to accept the principle, she would of her own free will do the things which the Allies have outlined as necessary to a settlement. She would renounce annexations and restore devastation. Of her own free will she would atone for murder, outrage and destruction. She would restore to those whom she has despoiled. She would do penance for the murders she has committed. But there is no likelihood that she will do these things of her own free will and so show that she accepts in humility the condition that is imperative. There is nothing to do but compel her to submit. Certainly our own President made every attempt to induce the German government to accept the principle willingly. But even he at last was, as he said, disillusioned and came to the conclusion that the only remedy was force, force without stint, force to the limit,—and so it must be. The concrete expression of submission to the Great Condition, the destruction of the principle of autocracy and acceptance of the principle of the right of a people to determine its own life and its own government, can be assured, of course, only through the imposition of specific terms of peace. What are some of the things that will make sure the establishment of the Great Condition ? I. The first is a victory which will drive the Germans and their allies back within the boundaries of their own countries. Whether or not there was a time when a proposal for a peace without victory could have been reasonably entertained, it has passed. 2. Germany 31st evacuate all the other ter occupied—Russia. Roumania Montenegro 4- Alsace-Lorraine must be restored to France and the Trentino and Trieste to Italy.

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