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diminution of the armed forces of all States and the institution of obligatory arbitration for international disputes.

We share his Holiness' view that definite rules and a certain safeguard for a simultaneous and reciprocal limitation of armaments on land, on sea, and in the air, as well as for the true freedom of the community and high seas, are the things in treating which-the new spirit that in the future should prevail in international relationsshould find first hopeful expression. The task would then of itself arise to decide international differences of opinion, not by the use of armed forces, but by peaceful methods, especially by arbitration, whose high peace-producing effect we together with his Holiness fully recognize.

The Imperial Government will in this respect support every proposal compatible with the vital interest of the German Empire and people.

Germany, owing to her geographical situation and economic requirements, has to rely on peaceful intercourse with her neighbors and with distant countries. No people, therefore, has more reason than the German people to wish that instead of universal hatred and battle, a conciliatory fraternal spirit should prevail between nations.

if the nations are guided by this spirit it will be recognized to their advantage that the important thing is to lay more stress upon what unites them in their relations. They will also succeed in settling individual points of conflict which are still undecided, in such a way that conditions of existence will be created which will be satisfactory to every nation, and thereby a repetition of this great world catastrophe would appear impossible. Only on this condition can a lasting peace be founded which would promote an intellectual rapprochement and a return to the economic prosperity of human society.

This serious and sincere conviction encourages our confidence that our enemies also may see a suitable basis in the ideas submitted by his Holiness for approaching nearer to the preparation of future peace under conditions corresponding to a spirit of reasonableness and to the situation in Europe.

Reply of the Austrian Emperor
(Official translation.)

Holy Father: With due veneration and deep emotion we take cognizance of the new representations which your Holiness, in fulfillment of the holy office intrusted to you by God, makes to us and the heads of the other belligerent States, with the noble intention of leading the heavily tried nations to a unity that will restore peace to them.

With a thankful heart we receive this fresh gift of fatherly care which you, Holy Father, always bestow on all peoples without distinction, and from the depth of our heart we greet the moving exhortation which your Holiness has addressed to the Governments of the belligerent peoples.

During this cruel war we have always looked up to your Holiness as to the highest personage, who, in virtue of his mission, which reaches beyond earthly things, and, thanks to the high conception of his duties laid upon him, stands high above the belligerent peoples, and who, inaccessible to all influence, was able to find a way which may lead to the realization of our own desire for peace, lasting and honorable for all parties.

Since ascending the throne of our ancestors, and fully conscious of the responsibility which we bear before God and men for the fate of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, we have never lost sight of the high aim of restoring to our peoples, as speedily as possible, the blessings of peace. Soon after our accession to the throne it was vouchsafed to us, in common with our allies, to undertake a step which had been considered and prepared by our exalted predecessor, Francis Joseph, to pave the way for a lasting and honorable peace.

We gave expression to this desire in a speech from the throne delivered at the opening of the Austrian Reichstag, thereby showing that we are striving after a peace that shall free the future life of the nation from rancor and a thirst for revenge, and that shall secure them for generations to come from the employment of armed forces. Our joint Government has in the meantime not failed in repeated and emphatic declarations, which could be heard by all the world, to give expression to our own will and that of the Austro-Hungarian peoples to prepare an end to bloodshed by a peace such as your Holiness has in mind.

Happy in the thought that our desires from the first were directed toward the same object which your Holiness today characterizes as one we should strive for, we have taken into close consideration the concrete and practical suggestion of your Holiness and have come to the following conclusions:

With deep-rooted conviction we agree to the leading idea of your Holiness that the future arrangement of the world must be based on the elimination of armed forces and on the moral force of right and on the rule of international justice and legality.

We, too, are imbued with the hope that a strengthening of the sense of right would

morally regenerate humanity. We support, therefore, your Holiness' view that the negotiations between the belligerents should and could lead to an understanding by which, with the creation of appropriate guarantees, armaments on land and sea and in the air might be reduced simultaneously, reciprocally and gradually to a fixed limit, and whereby the high seas, which rightly belong to all the nations of the earth, may be freed from domination or paramountcy, and be opened equally for the use of all.

Fully conscious of the importance of the promotion of peace on the method proposed by your Holiness, namely, to submit international disputes to compulsory arbitration, we are also prepared to enter into negotiations regarding this proposal.

If, as we most heartily desire, agreements should be arrived at between the belligerents which would realize this sublime idea and thereby give security to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy for its unhampered future development, it can then not be difficult to find a satisfactory solution of the other questions which still remain to be settled between the belligerents in a spirit of justice, and of a reasonable consideration of the conditions for existence of both parties.

If the nations of the earth were to enter, with a desirable peace, into negotiations with one another in the sense of your Holiness' proposals, then peace could blossom forth from them. The nations could attain complete freedom of movement on the high seas, heavy material burdens could be taken from them, and new sources of prosperity opened to them.

Guided by a spirit of moderation and conciliation, we see in the proposals of your Holiness a suitable basis for initiating negotiations with a view to preparing a peace, just to all and lasting, and we earnestly hope our present enemies may be animated by the same ideas. In this spirit we beg that the Almighty may bless the work of peace begun by your Holiness.

The World's Comments on Austro-German Notes

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It was announced by Vatican officials that the replies of the Central Powers were disappointing in that there were no specific references to evacuation restoration. A story gained circulation later to the effect that the notes had been altered at the last moment-that the PanGermans had eliminated all references to Belgium and to disavowal of indemnities and annexations.

The comment of the newspapers in the various countries was colored by their own bias. Allied and American newspapers almost without exception treated the replies with disdain and characterized them as a further demonstration of Teutonic duplicity and hypocrisy; this was likewise the official view among the Allies. The German-Austrian press regarded the notes as further evidence of the peaceful intentions of the Central Powers, and declared that they were sufficiently specific, though some radical German otherwise. newspapers spoke The Catholic press in Holland manifested a sympathetic attitude, and asserted that the course of peace was advanced by the replies, but this view prevailed nowhere else.

The Austrian Premier, Dr. von Seydler, on the reassembling of the Reichstag,

Sept. 25, referred to the Papal note in these terms:

We believe that agreements can be attained, which under proper guarantees might enable armaments to be gradually and simultaneously reduced, among other things by the introduction on this basis of obligatory arbitration for international disputes.

Our readiness to arrive at an agreement with our enemies on these bases is absolutely serious and sincere and is inspired by the consciousness of our strength. But if our enemies are not prepared to take the proffered hand we will continue our defensive war to the utmost.

Believing that a strong Austria, insuring contentment of all races, is the best guarantee of a lasting peace, we are striving to reform the Constitution, and the Government resolutely condemns the mistaken view held by certain parties that Austria's salvation is to be hoped for from Austria's enemies.

The German Chancellor, in a speech to the Main Committee of the Reichstag Sept. 28, answered the critics of Germany's reply in these words:

The German reply to the Pope's note met with the approval of our friends and allies, while a majority of our enemies have given it an obviously embarrassed reception. It is difficult to understand how any one acquainted with the international situation and international usages could believe that we ever would be in

such a position as, through a one-sided public statement on important questions which are indissolubly bound up with the entire complex of questions which must be discussed at the peace negotiations to bind ourselves to a solution to our own prejudice.

Any such public statement at the present time could only have a confusing efWe fect and injure German interests. should not come a step nearer peace, but it would contribute certainly to a prolongation of the war. I must at present decline to specify our war aims and bind the hands of our negotiators.

In conclusion the Chancellor attacked President Wilson's reply to the Pope's note:

The President's attempt to sow dissension between the people and the Government of Germany has no prospects of success. His note has had the opposite effect from what he desired and has bound us more firmly together in a stern resolve to oppose resolutely and energetically all foreign interference.

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sires of an overwhelming majority of the Germans.

The principles of the reply to the Papal note as presented by the Government appear acceptable to the representatives of all the parties. Consequently I believe I can say with full right that all attempts of the enemy to drive a wedge between the German people and the German Government on the question of the basis of our foreign policy and by the propagation of the fiction that the German people do not stand behind the Kaiser and the Imperial Chancellor will be repulsed in the most crushing manner by the support given to this document. *

Dr. von Kühlmann declared that the breakdown of European civilization would leave every nation weaker and poorer, no matter to what combination it might belong. He continued:

When the young power, Germany, nearly fifty years ago entered the circle of old powers she was greeted by nobody with great enthusiasm; but these fifty years have proved more than abundantly that the new power brought strength to the whole of Europe. If today our enemies believe that they are able to turn back the course of history and bring into existence again a weak formation of federated States alongside a Prussia which has been subjected to deadly mutilation, these are only delusions, which are hardly pardonable in the case of political theorists, and must be ruinous in the case of responsible statesmen.

As long as our enemies base themselves on fiction-the more clever ones among them do not believe in it-the time may come in which the German Nation, doing penance in sackcloth and ashes, and beating its breast in sorrow, may grovel under the yoke of despicable demands.

We shall have to continue to speak by the sword. It may not be easy to show the truth plainly to the nations of the Entente, which have been incited by legends invented at the beginning of the war, but how otherwise is the new spirit to come into existence? This is an indispensable condition if we are to arrive at a termination of the present struggle of the nations.

The German people are firmly convinced that they are conducting a just war. From this conviction they draw strength cheerfully to meet the great sacrifices which the times demand.

Definite Refusal to Discuss Alsace-Lorraine

Foreign Secretary von Kühlmann on Oct. 10, at a plenary sitting of the Reichstag, became more definite in ex

pressing Germany's war aims. He said that the attitude of the Entente Powers gave no prospect that the Pope's pro

posal would be successful, notwithstanding the agreement of the Central Powers "to collaborate not only in the termination of the present conflict but in the reconstruction of a Europe nearly ruined." He continued as follows:

The great question prolonging the struggle is not the future of Belgium, but that of Alsace-Lorraine. Great Britain, according to our information, has pledged herself to France that she will continue the fight for the conquest of Alsace-Lorraine both politically and with her armies so long as France desires to adhere to the program of regaining those provinces. This being the actual situation, I think it proper to give a clear and firm statement of our attitude, since, curiously enough, there still seems to be a misconception in this respect among our enemies, and even among our neutral friends.

There is but one answer to the question, "Can Germany in any form make concessions with regard to Alsace-Lorraine?" That answer is "No." So long as one German hand can hold a gun the integrity of the territory handed down to us as a glorious inheritance by our forefathers can never be the object of negotiations or concessions.

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When it seemed expedient to France to accept the formula without annexations" the French resorted to the transparent trick of bashfully covering up with the word "disannexation " what is in reality a barefaced and forceful conquest. The trick is really too clumsy to be worthy of repute. Now, except for France's demand for Alsace-Lorraine, there is absolutely no impediment to peace, no question which could not be solved by negotiations or a settlement in such a way as to render superfluous the further sacrifice of blood.

Our enemies heretofore have been careful not to reveal their real war aims. What they have told the world is a maximum program, which can only be realized after the complete military defeat of the Central Powers.

The German Government has never answered this program because we believe in dealing with real sober facts. Our answer to our opponents' assertions that they cannot obtain a clear conception of our intentions is our reply to the Pope, and the parliamentary discussions in connection with this. They leave no doubt in the mind of any one who wishes to understand the essential principles of our peace program.

Reiterated by the Chancellor Chancellor Michaelis, in his address at the same session, Sept. 10, supported the attitude of the Foreign Secretary in these words:

The German Nation will stand together as one man unshakable, and persevere in the fight until its right and the right of our allies to existence and development are assured. In its unity the German Empire is invincible.

We must continue to persevere until the German Empire, on the Continent and overseas, establishes its position. Further, we must strive to see that the armed alliance of our enemies does not grow into an economic offensive alliance.

We can in this sense achieve a peace which guarantees the peasant the reward of his land; which gives the worker merited recompense; which creates a market for industries and supplies the foun-" dation for social progress; which gives our ships the possibility on a free voyage of entering ports and taking on coal all over the world. A peace of the widest economic and cultural development, a real peace. This peace we can attain within these limits.

As long as our enemies confront us with demands which appear unacceptable to every single German, as long as our opponents wish to interfere with our frontier posts, as long as they demand that we shall yield a piece of German soil, as long as they pursue the idea of driving a wedge between the German people and its Emperor, so long shall we with folded arms refuse the hand of peace.

We can wait. Time is working for us. Until our enemies perceive that they must reduce their claims, so long must the cannon speak and the U-boats do their work. Our peace will yet come.

Lloyd George's Answer

Premier Lloyd George answered Baron Kühlmann on Oct. 11 in an address at London, as follows:

I cannot think of any statement more calculated to prolong the war than the assertion of the German Foreign Secretary, von Kühlmann, that Germany would never contemplate the making of concessions to France respecting Alsace-Lorraine. However long the war lasts, England intends to stand by her gallant ally, France, until she redeems her oppressed children from the degradation of a foreign yoke. This means that the country must husband its resources, and, when demands were put forward for improvements here and there, my answer is: "Concentrate upon victory."

Former Premier Asquith, the same day, referring to the same subject, said:

German diplomacy is not celebrated for deftness, but even in its annals it will be difficult to find a more clumsy or more transparent manoeuvre than this maladroit attempt to sow discord between ourselves and our French allies. Von

Kühlmann relegates the Belgian question to a secondary position. I have formally asked whether Germany was ready to restore Belgium in the only real sense acceptible to the Allies, but I have received no answer, and von Kühlmann, who can be boisterously definite and precise concerning Alsace-Lorraine, preserves regarding Belgium an unbroken, but significant, silence.

The first speech of Dr. von Kühlmann was not sympathetically received by the Vatican, and was a disappointment, as he was expected to indicate concrete conditions, while on the contrary it unveiled a warlike spirit in the German governing party, in direct opposition to

the attitude assumed by the Pope in his proposal.

Following these speeches a warm debate ensued in the German Reichstag, and for a while it was thought the peace advocates would overthrow the Government, but a disavowal by the Chancellor that the Government was acting in collusion with the Pan-German faction to the exclusion of other political parties, and the disclosures regarding the naval mutiny which involved the independent Socialists, put the peace advocates on the defensive and strengthened materially the militarists.

Austria-Hungary Explains Her Demands

Count Czernin, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Oct. 3 delivered an address at Budapest which created considerable stir among the belligerent nations and was regarded as evidence of a growing and acute necessity of peace. He said in part:

The millions who are fighting in the trenches or behind the lines wish to know why and for what they are fighting. They have a right to learn why peace, which the entire world desires, has not yet come. When I was appointed to my post I utilized the first opportunity openly to declare that we did not want to oppress any one, but that on the other hand we would not suffer any oppression, and that we were prepared to enter upon peace negotiations as soon as our enemies accepted the standpoint of peace by agreement.

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Count Czernin said a plain statement of war aims was indispensable. plained the conversion of the Central Powers to the doctrine of disarmament by declaring that armaments were necessary until the world was convinced that Austria-Hungary was not a dying State, subject to dismemberment. In conclusion, Count Czernin threatened that unless peace without annexations or indemnities were immediately accepted it would be necessary for Austria-Hungary to revise its program and seek compensation for further costs of the war. He said:

This war taught us that we must reckon on a great increase in former armaments. With unrestricted armaments the nations would be compelled to increase everything tenfold and the military estimates

of the great powers would amount to billions.

That is impossible. It would mean complete ruin. To return to the armament status of 1914 would be a great reduction, but there would be no meaning in not going further and actually disarming. Hence complete disarmament is the only issue from the difficulty.

Gigantic fleets will have no further purpose when the nations of the world guarantee the freedom of the seas, and land armies will be reduced to the level required for the maintenance of internal order. Every State will have to give up something of its independence for the purpose of insuring the world peace.

Probably the present generation will not live to see the completion of this great pacific movement. It can only be realized slowly, but I consider it our duty to place ourselves at the head of the movement to do everything humanly possible to accelerate its materialization.

Disarmament on High Seas

Strongly emphasizing the necessity for naval disarmament on the high seas, Count Czernin said:

I purposely say the high seas, for I do not extend the idea to narrow seas, and I freely admit that for sea communications special rules and regulations must obtain. With these factors made clear every ground for territorial guarantees disappears.

This is the basic idea of the beautiful and sublime note which the Pope addressed to the whole world. If this basis is accepted by our enemies we can renounce the enlargement of the AustroHungarian Monarchy, always provided that the enemy completely evacuate our territory.

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