The
German peace offensive blocked on every front; told by the rulers of
every Allied country that her surrender must be a military one, and
that its terms could only be had on application, under a White Flag,
from Marshall Foch, the last remaining military power, the
arch-culprit, has thrown up the sponge.
Two Generals and
two Admirals left Berlin yesterday as a peace delegation, and came,
caps in hands, to General Foch and humbly asked for the terms upon
which they might have peace.
Today, just at
noon, a G.N.W. dispatch from Toronto brought word that the Germans had
accepted the terms, signed the armistice, and hostilities were over
from two o'clock today.
The world has
been assured, and the assurance would seem a reasonable one, that the
terms to Germany are no easier than those granted her partners in
crime, Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria. In the case of these latter
countries, it was complete surrender. It is inconceivable that
anything less has been accorded to Germany.
And they must be
inexorably enforced to the last syllable. For the world's future,
Germany's power to rebuild her forces and try again for domination
must be destroyed.
As to what will
happen in the misguided Empire, who can say? Cables this morning tell
of revolution breaking out: of sailors murdering their officers, and
soldiers sent to put down violence making common cause with the
creators of it.
At the risk of
offending some admirers of German methods here in Norfolk, may we
declare that if Germany is made to pay as France was after the
Revolution, and as Russia is paying now, we will shed no tears.
