ONE ESSENTIAL FACTOR OF A PEACE LEAGUE
Any grouping of powers in a League of Peace which leaves Germany out of the account must fail. There is no doubt that peace in Europe could be brought about quickly if Germany would offer moderate terms. For so far as the war has proceeded Germany is actually the victor. If peace were declared now on the basis of the status quo, Germany would be in possession of foreign soil which would vastly increase her resources and her prestige, and would have an army in being and stores of ammunition surpassing that of all the other belligerents combined. If Germany would enter into a League of Peace with the other great powers to compel the peace of the world, there would be no doubt of the ability of such a league to keep any and all nations from war; but with Germany left out, her veto upon any plan of compulsory peace would be sufficient to wreck it. We are only stating the situation as it stands to-day. What changes in it the future will make we cannot predict. It is evident that Germany’s power cannot be materially crippled except by a long war. If the Allies can hold her in check and continue to hold the seas, that may bring about German exhaustion of which there are no signs at present. Such a prolongation of the war will also bring about the exhaustion of the other nations, so that their people will be ready for a just international arrangement to insure universal peace. But even then Germany will be a power to be reckoned with, and any League of Peace or International Bund that aims to be effective will have to include the great Germanic peoples.