OCR Text |
Show ; FlTEPFIflLB DEPEHDS UPBR DUTCDiEOFWAR Viscount Grey Foresees Danger That Civilization Will Be Submerged in Present Struggle. r,f(.'ION, Juiif 13. Ttrltlah flrnirnlty p:r Wii-.'lf.-ss rr.-:is.--'J'ho wl'l-st intei'f.sr will he cvin'f-il in ;l ;j;nnpli!f!t on "Tho I a(-aKUM nf N.-utjiths," writ ten liy Viscount ( Jrcy of Not (in, who was n.-( rotary of foreign uffair-H in the cabinet of Herbert II. Artiiultl! itt the. be'innitif,' of tlie Ku-ropcan Ku-ropcan war. "There i.-- more rt t slake in the w:ir Ih;m llm exhkrin'e of ind i vid ual slates or empires or the fate of a. continent," s;iyy 'lscount (h-try. "The whole of modern ' ri vilizatio.i is ji t stake and whether it will pensh and be submerged, as has happened hap-pened lo pi evious civilizations of older t ypey, or whether It will live a nd progress, pro-gress, depends upon whether the nations enp;iffed In this war, ami even those that are onlookers, kam the lesson that the experience of the war may teach them. "It must he. with nations as with individuals indi-viduals in the ni't trials of life; they must hecurne better or worse they cannot Bland still. They must learn and profit by t'Nperlenec ami rise to greater heights or else sink lower and drop eventually inin the abyss. If this war docs not teach mankind new lessons (hat will so dominate domi-nate the thoughts and feeling of those who survive it as to make new things pojiibip, then the war will be the sreat-erfl sreat-erfl cat as i rophe, as weil as the most grievous trhil and suffering, of which the world has any record." Two Principal Conditions. Viscount rjroy lays clown two principal conditions which he says must be fulfilled ful-filled if the league of nations is to be eflVtive. The lirst Is: "The idea must be adopted with earnest ear-nest n ess a nd convict ion by the executive heads of states, It must become an es-ser'tial es-ser'tial part of their practical policy, one of their chief reasons for being or con-- con-- tinning to be responsible for the policy of their states. They must not adopt it only to render sin h service to the persona whom It is convenient to please or un-' un-' gracious 1 o d Is please. They must lead .and :iot follow; they must compel, if necessary, nec-essary, and not be compelled." This condition. Viscount Grey thinks, is actually fulfilled as regards the executive head of the United States and is, or will be, found present as regards the entente governments, while A ustria has publicly shown a disposition to accept the proposal. pro-posal. A s long, I however, as military rule in fJermany continues, Germany will oppose i a league of nations, he says. "CJormany nas to be convinced," he con- I tinues, "that force does not pay, that the alms and policy of her' military rulers inflict in-flict Intolerable and also unnecesary suf- ! fering upon her. and that when the world is free from the menace of these military rulers, with their sharp swords and mailed lists. Germany will lind peaceful development develop-ment assured and preferable to expansion by war, and will realize that the eondi- tion of true security for one nation is absence of tecurity on the part of all nations. "Till Germany feels this to be true, there can he no league of nations in the sense intended by President Wilson." The second condition, says Viscount Grey, is that the governments and not the peoples of states willing to found it must understand clearly that it will impose im-pose some limitations upon the national action of each and may entail some inconvenient in-convenient obligations. The smaller and weaker nations will have rights that must be respected and upheld by the league. The stronger nations must forego the right to make their interests prevail against the weaker by force, and all the stales must forego the right In any dispute dis-pute to resort to force before other methods meth-ods of settlement by conference, conciliation, concili-ation, or, if need be, by arbitration, have been tried. This is the limitation. Force, the writer insists, must be b rough to bear upon states that refuse to settle their disputes by arbitration. Failure Intolerable. Viscount Grey urges that the prospect of a failure of the war is intolerable and adds: "Peace can never be insured by the domination of one country securing its power and propriety by the submission and disadvantage of others', and the German Ger-man -idea of a world peace secured by the power of German militarism is impracticable impracti-cable as well as unfair and abhorrent to other nations. "In opposition to this idea of Germany, the allies should set forth, as President Wilson has already set forth, the idea of peace secured by mutual regard between states for the rights of each and a determination de-termination to stamp out any attempt at war as they would a plague that threatened the destruction of all. When those who accept this idea and this sort of peace can in word and deed speak for Germany we shall be within sight of a good peace." |