18 



DISCOVERY 



could be imposed upon Germany, and in wliat form and 

 by what machinery it should be exacted, the determina- 

 tion as to international control of the waterways of 

 Europe, the conditions which should be attached to the 

 recognition of new States, such as Poland or Czecho- 

 slovakia, the innumerable questions which arose out 

 of the liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy ; 

 and all the time there pressed for immediate decision 

 matters of urgent practical policy, such as the attitude 

 that should be adopted towards the claims for autonomy 

 or independence of the Baltic States, the relationship 

 towards the Bolshevik Government in Russia, and the 

 help, if any, which should be given to the forces of 

 Kolchak and Denekin, the method of establishing 

 the control of the Conference over the insurgent popu- 

 lations in East Galicia, and, at the same time, the 

 steps necessary for carrying out the conditions of the 

 Armistice with Germany. To those who look back on 

 the multitude and rapidity with which problems of 

 this kind came up, it may be a matter of surprise, not 

 that from time to time decisions were made which 

 have not commanded universal consent, but that the 

 work was done at all. 



But perhaps the most striking difference between 

 Paris and Vienna arose out of the peculiar nature of 

 the terms of the Armistice, in which were specified the 

 general principles in accordance with which the peace 

 was to be made. Germany had laid down her arms 

 and the Allies had agreed to an armistice on the condi- 

 tion that the ultimate peace should be in accordance 

 with certain principles which had been stated by 

 President Wilson. These are generally referred to as 

 the " Fourteen Points," but it is worth while remem- 

 bering that they were, in fact, not limited to the fourteen 

 points specified in his speech of January 1918 ; there 

 were also included in the correspondence preceding 

 the Armistice a reference to any later statements that 

 he made. In fact, the other statements which he 

 made comprised four other lists of points placed in a 

 categorical form, and made in subsequent speeches or 

 official messages. It has been stated that the Con- 

 ference completely ignored the Fourteen Points, that 

 they were not considered. This can be emphatically 

 denied. Each individual can, of course, only speak as 

 to his own personal experience, and this is necessarily 

 limited to those parts of the discussions with which he 

 was immediately concerned. I may at least be allowed 

 to record my own experience. It is that throughout 

 the discussions there was constantly present to the 

 minds of those who took part in them, and frequent 

 reference made to, the Principles of the Peace, and I 

 can affirm, on immediate and personal knowledge, that 

 in the Council of Four itself the decision on matters 

 of the highest importance was determined by exphcit 

 reference to the Fourteen Points — e.g. a decision favour- 



able to the Allies, and for which there were many 

 grounds of expediency, would be rejected solely 

 because it could not be reconciled with the pledges 

 which had been given. But the Principles by which 

 the work had to be guided had not been expressed in 

 a manner which made their translation into precise 

 legal form easy ; to a large extent they were general 

 conceptions, aspirations, exhortations, and some of 

 them were not easy to reconcile with one another. Let 

 us take one of the four points in President Wilson's 

 address to Congress of February ii, 1918 : " All well- 

 defined national aspirations shall be accorded the 

 utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them without 

 introducing new, or perpetuating old, elements of dis- 

 cord and antagonism, that would be likely in time to 

 break the peace of Europe and consequently of the 

 world " ; and another, in the same speech : " Each 

 part of the final settlement must be based upon the 

 essential justice of that particular case, and upon 

 such adjustments as are most likely to bring a peace 

 that will be permanent." To these dicta all might 

 give assent, but the application is not without diffi- 

 culty. How are we to accord utmost satisfaction to 

 the well-defined national aspirations of the Poles or the 

 Czechs or the Yugo-Slavs, without introducing new or 

 perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism ? 

 And how are we to define what is the well-defined 

 national aspiration ? Are the claims of the Ruthenians 

 of East Galicia, or the Wendish inhabitants of Lusatia, 

 or the Lems of the Carpathians, to receive recognition 

 under this formula ? And how are we to balance the 

 historic claims of the modern representatives of the 

 old Polish and Bohemian State against the rival claims 

 of ethnographic frontiers ? East Prussia had been 

 Polish land to the time of the Partitions ; then it 

 became Prussian, and since tlien there has been a large 

 German infiltration of population. If we assign this 

 territory to Poland, East Prussia will be separated 

 from the rest of Germany ; if we assign it to Germany, 

 Poland will be cut off from the sea, and a large Polish 

 population continue under Gemian subjection. NMicre 

 is justice, which we all seek, to be found ? The settle- 

 ment with Germany has been widely criticized on the 

 ground that it is incompatible with the Fourteen 

 Points ; I venture to think that, on territorial points, 

 the more impartial judgment of the future will be that, 

 in face of problems of unexampled difficulty, the 

 greatest effort was used to find a settlement which 

 would be in accordance with the principles of the 

 Treaty. No purely and undoubtedly German territory 

 is to be separated from Germany, and where there 

 was a reasonable doubt as to the ailfinities and wishes 

 of the population, it has been determined that they 

 themselves shall be consulted as to their future allegi- 

 ance, as in Upper Silesia or in the district of Mazuria. 



