portant respect they have defeated the plan of Germany "in
shining armor" to crush her enemies in their unreadiness.

But the' war has not been won. Peace now, even though
it be made on the basis of the restoration of the status quo,
"without indemnities and without annexations," would be
a failure to achieve the great purpose for which the Allies
have made heartrending sacrifice. Armaments would con-
tinue for the next war, and this war would have been fought
in vain. The millions of lives lost and the hundreds of
billions' worth of the product of men's labor would be
wasted.

He who proposes peace now, therefore, either does not
see the stake for which the Allies are fighting, or wishes the
German military autocracy still to control the destinies of
all of us as to peace or war. Those who favor permanent
world peace must oppose with might and main the proposals
for peace at this juncture in the war, whether made in
socialistic councils, in pro-German conferences or by Pope
Benedict. That the Pontiff of the greatest Christian Church,
should wish to bring to an end a war in which millions of
its communion are on both sides is to be expected. That
he should preserve a difficult neutrality is also natural.
That his high purpose is to save the world from further
suffering goes without saying. But the present is not the
opportunity of an intervening peacemaker who must assume
that compromise is possible.

The Allies are fighting for a principle the maintenance
of which affects the future of civilization. If they do not
achieve it they have sacrificed the flower of their youth and
mortgaged their future for a century, and all for nothing.
This is not a war in which the stake is territory or sphere
of influence. The Allies cannot concede peace until they

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