The greatest war that the world has ever known has been fought to a finish, and the greatest victory for righteousness that has ever been achieved has been won. The German armies are defeated. Last October, in the week elapsing between the seventh and the fourteenth, it was made clear that the American people demanded an unconditional surrender from Germany and the unconditional surrender has come. They also demanded and made it clear that they wanted that armistice, whenever it did come, to be the work of Marshal Foch and the generals who were with him. They drew the armistice, General Foch presented it to Germany, and Germany has accepted.
It is a great triumph, worthy of the mightiest rejoicing of all the men who have struggled for four years that freedom and civilization may not perish from the earth. But although we write of an armistice as the end of the war, an armistice is not a peace. An armistice is a suspension of hostilities. The peace is yet to come, when the terms of the armistice have been fulfilled.
What Sort of Peace?
What sort of a peace it is to be is the question now of the greatest moment, and the American people can have the right peace just as they obtained the unconditional surrender. The influence of the people of the United States upon the approaching settlement of peace will be commanding, because we go to that settlement without one single selfish object. We do not seek a foot of territory anywhere. We ask only that the peace, by its terms, shall justify the sacrifices that have been made. We have the right to insist, and the American people can through public opinion insist, that the terms shall be conclusive, that the world shall be relieved once for all from the danger of another war by Germay -- that that cloud shall pass away from our children and our children's children.
