The question upon
which the whole future peace and policy of the world depends is this: Is
the present war a struggle for a just and secure peace, or only for a
new balance of power? If it be only a struggle for a new balance of
power, who will guarantee, who can guarantee, the stable equilibrium of
the new arrangement? Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe.
There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not
organized rivalries, but an organized common peace.
Fortunately we have received very explicit assurances on this point. The
statesmen of both of the groups of nations now arrayed against one
another have said, in terms that could not be misinterpreted, that it
was no part of the purpose they had in mind to crush their antagonists.
But the implications of these assurances may not be equally clear to
all,--may not be the same on both sides of the water. I think it will be
serviceable if I attempt to set forth what we understand them to be.
They imply, first of all, that it must be a peace without victory. It is
not pleasant to say this. I beg that I may be permitted to put my own
interpretation upon it and that it may be understood that no other
interpretation was in my thought.
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