His Holiness, in substance, proposes that we return to the _status
quo ante bellum_, and that then there be a general condonation,
disarmament, and a concert of nations based upon an acceptance of the
principle of arbitration; that by a similar concert freedom of the
seas be established; and that the territorial claims of France and
Italy, the perplexing problems of the Balkan states, and the
restitution of Poland be left to such conciliatory adjustments as may
be possible in the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid
to the aspirations of the peoples whose political fortunes and
affiliations will be involved.
It is manifest that no part of this program can be successfully
carried out unless the restitution of the _status quo ante_
furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis for it. The object of this
war is to deliver the free peoples of the world from the menace and
the actual power of a vast military establishment controlled by an
irresponsible Government, which, having secretly planned to dominate
the world, proceeded to carry the plan out without regard either to
the sacred obligations of treaty or the long-established practices
and long-cherished principles of international action and honor;
which chose its own time for the war; delivered its blow fiercely and
suddenly; stopped at no barrier either of law or of mercy; swept a
whole continent within the tide of blood--not the blood of soldiers
only, but the blood of innocent women and children also, and of the
helpless poor; and now stands balked but not defeated, the enemy of
four-fifths of the world. This power is not the German people. It is
the ruthless master of the German people. It is no business of ours
how that great people came under its control or submitted with
temporary zest to the domination of its purpose; but it is our
business to see to it that the history of the rest of the world is no
longer left to its handling.
To deal with such a power by way of peace upon the plan proposed by
His Holiness the Pope would, so far as we can see, involve a
recuperation of its strength and a renewal of its policy; would make
it necessary to create a permanent hostile combination of nations
against the German people who are its instruments; and would result
in abandoning the new-born Russia to the intrigue, the manifold
subtle interference, and the certain counter-revolution which would
be attempted by all the malign influences to which the German
Government has of late accustomed the world. Can peace be based upon
a restitution of its power or upon any word of honor it could pledge
in a treaty of settlement and accommodation?
Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if they never saw
before, that no peace can rest securely upon political or economic
restrictions meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass
others, upon vindictive action of any sort, or any kind of revenge or
deliberate injury. The American people have suffered intolerable
wrongs at the hands of the Imperial German Government, but they
desire no reprisal upon the German people, who have themselves
suffered all things in this war which they did not choose. They
believe that peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not the
rights of governments--the rights of peoples great or small, weak or
powerful--their equal right to freedom and security and
self-government and to a participation upon fair terms in the
economic opportunities of the world, the German people, of course,
included, if they will accept equality and not seek domination.
The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this: Is it based upon
the faith of all the peoples involved or merely upon the word of an
ambitious and intriguing Government on the one hand, and of a group
of free peoples on the other? This is a test which goes to the root
of the matter; and it is the test which must be applied.