For
consider--! In the view we are examining it is proposed, first to kill
the greater part of her combatants, next to invade her territory, destroy
her towns and villages, and exact (for there are those who demand it)
penalties in kind, actual tit for tat, for what Germans have done in
Belgium. It is proposed to enter the capital in triumph. It is proposed
to shear away huge pieces of German territory. And then, when all this
has been done, the conquerors are to turn to the German nation and say:
"Now, all this we have done for your good! Depose your wicked rulers!
Become a democracy! Shake hands and be a good fellow!" Does it not
sound grotesque? But, really, that is what is proposed.
I have spoken about British and French proposals for the treatment of
Germany. But all that I have said applies, of course, equally to German
proposals of the same kind for the treatment of the conquered Allies. That
way is no way towards a durable peace. If it be replied that a durable
peace is not intended or desired, I have no more to say. If it be replied
that punishment for its own sake is more important than civilization, and
must be performed at all costs--_fiat justitia, ruat coelum_--then, once
more, I have nothing to say. I speak to those, and to those only, who do
desire a durable peace, and who have the courage and the imagination to
believe it to be possible, and the determination to work for it.
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