ber, and of defending any member which may be attacked by a non-adhering nation that may refuse to refer the dispute between them for settlement by pacific means.

CHAPTER V

A PEOPLE'S PEACE

THE war has clearly demonstrated the extraordinary power invested in free peoples. Take the case of the United States. For several months President Wilson had recognised that his country must eventually intervene in the war on the side of the Allies and in defence of the great principles of freedom and liberty, but it was not until the American people were convinced beyond all doubt of the righteousness of this course that he was empowered to organise his country for war. In Britain the publication of Lord Lansdowne's letter was almost sensational in its effects, inasmuch as it compelled statesmen to recognise that the question of peace terms so vitally concerned the people that its consideration could not be postponed until the close of hostilities but demanded immediate discussion and definition. Hitherto the nation has been more or less content to remain in ignorance of the details of our peace terms: they have been satisfied with general references which were mainly confined to the statement

of broad principles. Now they are aware that while there may be universal agreement on general principles, the method of the application of those principles may differ very materially according to the interpretation of each nation, and it is only by a comparison of the explicit and concrete peace terms of each of the belligerent groups that the world can judge what now constitutes the obstacles to a real and lasting peace. The people have their own ideas of peace, and they are only concerned with the difficulties to be surmounted before that peace can be obtained; they do not care what obstacles prevent the attainment of a Government's peace unless that peace is in strict harmony with their own ideals. They have no sympathy with selfish national interests or ambitions; they are shouldering the oppressive and painful burdens of the war with courage, fortitude, and determination, not merely to overthrow German tyranny and her scheme for world domination, but more especially in order to secure such international re-arrangement as will permit all the peoples of the world to live together under conditions of freedom, equality, and security. They realise that there can be no national safety without international security, that the national development and happiness of a people are indissolubly linked up with international tranquillity and good

will. They appreciate more than ever that nationalism is not the final stage of a nation's development, but that it is only an intermediate step to complete world internationalism. The effects of the war

have been felt by the whole world; there have been no national barriers to the pain, suffering and sacrifices of the great Armageddon. The whole of humanity has been crucified. And humanity, bleeding and torn, cries out for a radical and complete solution of all the factors which contributed to the present world-catastrophe.

Such a solution can only be found in a peace which will remove all old grievances, prevent the imposition of new injustices, establish a world recognition and practice of the principle of the right of self-detern.ination and of free development of all peoples, great and small. It must offer guarantees for the security of world peace in the future. Security is the greatest of all questions for humanity, but whatever provisions may be made with a view to establishing means for the maintenance of world peace, they will surely prove to be useless unless the other outstanding political, territorial, economic, and commercial problems are settled on just, honourable, and democratic lines.

So far as the British people are concerned they have no thoughts of territorial conquests; they do

not seek forcibly to annex any portion of the national possessions of any of the Central Powers or their Allies. They demand neither conquests nor war indemnities. But there will have to be certain restorations and reconstitutions. Such necessary changes will be covered by the application of the principle of the right of self-determination of all peoples. Belgium must be restored to complete independence and compensated for the foul wrongs to which she has been subjected as a result of the German invasion of her territory. The questions of Serbia, Poland, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, Palestine, and the extension of Italy and Roumania to their natural boundaries, are all capable of being settled on this basis. Territories in Asia which have been freed from the oppressive rule of the Turks or the Germans ought not to be returned to their old rulers, nor can they be appropriated by any of the Allied Powers, in view of the very definite declaration that they are not fighting for "annexations." If these peoples are not capable of exercising their right of self-determination, the administration of their territories should be placed in the hands of an international commission acting under the direction and control of the proposed League of Nations.

The inhuman methods of the German towards