Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1918. BERLIN WEAKENS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1918, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1918. BERLIN WEAKENS

Prince Mas of Baden, the new German Chancellor, has pulled the High . Command a little way aJong the road to reason, yet so little that the concession is worse than worthless. . According to a forecast of his speech, Prince Max will offer to subject tho Brest-Litovsk Treaty to revision by a General Congress of the 'Powers; but, as a counterbalance to this, he will stand stiffly for the retention by Germany of Alsace-Lorraine, the nonindemnification of France, and the return to Germany of her colonies. In the way of monetary compensation, what France claims is not a, crippling indemnity such as Bismarck sought to impose in 1870-71, but restoration of her ravaged country; and in view of what is still to come, as well as what has happened, it is necessary not to weaken on this question of restoration. For what hope is there to prevent the devastation of all the rest of occupied France, if at this hour the Allies' resolution should bo shaken ■by Prince Max's diplomacy? Coincidently, there is published in this issue a special warning by France to Germany that the Germans will be held to account for the ruin which covers the wake of their retreat—a ruin which cannot be averted in the immediate future unless Germany is convinced of her own strict accountability for the damage done. Differenti-' ating between Belgium and France, Germany is learning at last how to pronounce the word "restoration," but the Belgian measure proposed by the new Chancellor obviously will not do, because the, money is to come out of an " international fund." Germany, on a. plea of " military necessity," invades Belgium, and then has the impudence to ask all Europe to contribute towards the cost of her criminality ! And though the case' of France is different, in that she did not rest under a German guarantee of inviolable neutrality, nevertheless France's claim against the arch-incendiary of Europe is equally just, and must be considered in its preventive as well as its retributive aspect. ' In principle, the concession in the matter of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty is important. If Germany is no longer willing to stand by the letter of that document, Austria-Hungary must '".'§ prepared to ■follow suit, so not only -Jne Russian but also the Rumanian and the Ukrainian settlements appear to be steadily nearing the melting-pot. That connotes the abandonment by Austria-Hungary of Count Czemin's annexations from Rumania—an act of renunciation which is ■rendered necessary by force of circumstances, but which will nevertheless be paraded by the Central Powers as- a virtue. Abandonment of the seized territory of Rumania, though by no means an act of grace, will stimulate the German press to new protests against the annexation of the German colonies. If the cabled forecast of his speech is explicit, Prince Max has not the hardihood whidh inspired Count Hertling to demand British evacuation of Gibraltar and the keys of the oceans; but he still stands for "freedom'of the sea 3," a proposition which is inseparably linked with the ideas of disarmament and the League of Nations. Britain cannot tolerate any 'limitation of her sea power that is not accompanied by a sufficient limitation of the land power of the European Continent; and as Germany's signature to a disarmament • treaty, or to any other agreement, has been proved to be worthless, it is useless for Prince Max to attempt to bargain with mere pious expressions like "partial and progressive disarmament." Perhaps, when his speech comes through, it will be found that he is really explicit, and thorough, and in line with Wilsonism; but the •chance at present is about one in one thousand. In conclusion, let us repeat a warning that cannot be sounded too often: Do not trust the peace pose and democratic cloak-of the new agents of Prussianism. The name changes, and so does the formula, but the heart of the war party changes not. When the real transformation comes, shaking Germany to her depths, the evidence on the surface and. at the top will be clean-cut, startling, and convincing. Of *iwli evidence there k m yet jw aia* '