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sanctity of international engagements, to assert the right of the weaker nations to an independent existence, to protect democracy against the attacks of autocracy armed to the teeth. These objects have been attained. We set out, finally, to protect our own shores against the danger of an invasion which the triumph of Germany over Belgium and France would have rendered irresistible. The danger has been averted, and in saving ourselves we have helped to save the world.

As the conflict went on, other objects emerged. We did not set out with the aim of recovering AlsaceLorraine for France, or of emancipating the Schleswigers, the Jugo-Slavs, the Rumanians, or the Czecho-Slovaks, of calling Poland back to life, or of liberating western Asia from the tyranny of the Turk. But it speedily became evident that only by these revolutionary changes, and by the recognition of nationality as the basis of government and the best security of peace, could the ultimate harmony of Europe and the Nearer East be built up on sound and durable foundations. The realisation of these sweeping aims has been embodied in the Peace. The enormous and beneficent changes that have been made, the righting of secular wrongs, the emancipation of many millions from a detested servitudesurely such achievements outweigh incalculably the minor mistakes-call them injustices, if you will-that have been committed in the Peace. Do the people who talk about 'Balkanising three-fourths of Europe,' and of 'sowing the seeds of countless future wars,' realise the conditions that prevailed or compare them with those which have now supervened? The seeds of national unrest and war have existed for ages, in Poland, AustriaHungary, the Balkans and elsewhere; in many parts of Europe, where races are inextricably mixed, it is impossible wholly to eradicate them. But, by the drastic process which has been applied, they have been mostly eradicated; in numerous cases the principle of self-determination by plebiscite has been applied; and Central Europe has at least a chance, such as it never had before, of dwelling harmoniously on what, in these democratic days, is the only basis of inter-racial peace.

But, it is argued by assailants of the Treaty, even if all this is true, was it necessary to impose conditions.

of such severity, military, economic and other, on a defeated enemy? Are not these conditions inspired solely by a spirit of revenge, which regards generosity as weakness and reconciliation as a foolish dream? We have already said that we consider the economic conditions as unwisely severe, but they are not unjust. Have our opponents such short memories that they have forgotten the character of the injuries inflicted, and the impossibility of making adequate amends? Justice comes before generosity; and we could not be generous to the enemy without being unjust to our friends.

As for reconciliation, it is a thing to be hoped for, an infinite blessing that will come in time; but only dreamers and enthusiasts could expect it, under any conditions, to come at once. A compromise peace would not have won it; on the contrary, we know, from ample evidence, how the Germans would have regarded an indecisive issue. The Allies being victorious, no peace was conceivable-even after the German revolutionwhich would at once have secured them from renewed attack, and yet have left no hatred and resentment in the German heart. The basis of reconciliation must be repentance and the confession of wrong; there is unfortunately no sign of repentance in Germany; all our information points the other way. This being so, the only possible course was to render Germany harmless, at least for some time to come; to establish the League of Nations with the intention of admitting our former enemy as soon as possible; to contemplate a revision of the terms if and when the good faith of Germany becomes clear; and to hope that in time a new generation will arise across the Rhine, which will perceive that their heavy punishment was deserved, and that the Treaty which inflicted it was, with all its faults, a blessing to the world.

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German Business Methods in the United States

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THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

No. 461.-OCTOBER, 1919.

Art. 1.-SINGAPORE AND SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES. 1. Straits Settlements Records, Nos. 10, 66, 70, 182, 182A and others. India Office.

2. Memoir of Sir T. Stamford Raffles. By Lady Raffles. Murray, 1830.

3. British Malaya. By Sir F. Swettenham. Lane, 1906. 4. The Malay Peninsula. By Arnold Wright and Thomas H. Reid. Fisher Unwin, 1912.

5. The Singapore Chronicle. 1827.

6. Reports of the East India Company's Affairs, 1831-32 and subsequent years. Parliamentary Publications. 7. Annual Report on the Straits Settlements, 1917. Government Printing Office, Singapore.

8. Chief Secretary's Report on the Federated Malay States, 1917. Government Printing Office, Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S.

LOVERS of historical parallels will find in two recent centennial celebrations a source of interesting study. On March 12, 1619, the Dutch founded Batavia; on Feb. 6, 1819, the British secured the treaty which gave them possession of Singapore. Though separated by almost exactly two centuries, the episodes have a close affinity. By one the Dutch established a domination in the Eastern Archipelago which the English of the 17th and 18th centuries were unable successfully to challenge; by the other the British defeated what the Marquess of Hastings (the Governor-General of India of that day) termed the profligate speculation' of the Dutch, that their flag and their flag alone should fly on every islet and peninsula of this vast region.

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