b. The question of equal economic opportunities, including the open door, in all colonial possessions.
c. The discussion and definition of immunity from capture of goods other than contraband and the modification of commercial blockade, whether by submarine warfare or otherwise.
d. As a condition of the preceding point the question of equal, comprehensive, and effective guarantees against future war on land as well as on sea; binding Germany as well as other nations, including ourselves.
BRAILSFORD ON A PEACE BY SATISFACTION
H. N. Brailsford.
A peace in which neither side could dictate the settlement might aim either at general frustration or general satisfaction. A sullen peace, in which each side used up the remnants of its military strength to veto the claims of the adversary, would be of all peaces the worst, for it would leave standing all the old causes of unrest. This war came about because Europe had evolved in peace no machinery by which demands for large and necessary changes could be met without war. Each people postponed its larger ambitions until war should come, and the knowledge of each that only war offered a chance of satisfaction made our universal strife. The claims of the Entente Powers for certain satisfactions for the principle of nationality, are to us familiar and sympathetic. It must be realized that the German demand for economic expansion is deeply rooted, and in the modern world inevitable. For Manchuria, Morocco, Egypt and Tripoli, the Entente Powers made, or were ready to make war. The German craving for “a place in the sun” may be condemned by those of us who have opposed Imperialism at home, but the ruling classes cannot consistently censure it. For twenty years past, the unsolved problem for European statecraft was to find an outlet for these tremendous German energies, to cut a canal in which the broad river could flow without floods. The peace of Europe will never be secure until this passion for Imperial work overseas, which is to-day the strongest ambition in Germany, finds its useful satisfaction. The forges are there. If they cannot make rails, they will make cannon.
The formula of an enduring peace must be to remove all the causes of strife in Europe, and we shall succeed only if we can satisfy the enemy’s legitimate claims while we secure justice for our friends. The general idea must be, win from him the largest recognition of the idea of nationality, while conceding to him the economic opportunities which he requires. The more, by the ordinary working of barter that we concede, the more shall we obtain. Let us attempt to sketch what the main lines of such an exchange might be.
(A)—ACTS OF RESTORATION
1.—Belgium must be restored, Serbia re-instated, and French territory evacuated.
2.—The German colonies must either be restored, or equivalent territories provided.