43l] THE PLEBISCITES IN THE PEACE TREATIES I33 



Stipulated. In the first place, "the German Government 

 cannot, on principle, consent to the cession of indisputably 

 German territories ; and a vote cannot be applied to such 

 territories": the second objection is that "apart from this 

 the demand of a cession of the districts of Eupen and Mal- 

 medy to Belgium contravenes the principle according to 

 which the settlement of all questions regarding sovereignty 

 is to be brought about, on the basis of free acceptance on 

 the part of the population immediately concerned." 



The course of reasoning here applied seems to be this: 

 in territories of indisputably German populations no plebi- 

 scites can be consented to and their cession by Germany 

 cannot be conceded. But if their cession is enforced, Ger- 

 many must insist on the application of the principle of na- 

 tional self-determination by way of a free and secret vote. 



The German comment assures the Allies that, in order 

 to secure for Belgium the benefits of the German forests in 

 these districts in reparation for the Belgian forests de- 

 stroyed, "the German Government declares itself ready, by 

 contracting for the supply of wood, to comply with these 

 aspirations." It adds that "the German Government must 

 point out the inadmissibility of bartering human beings from 

 one sovereignty to another, merely for the sake of wood and 

 zink ore." 



The Allied reply to these observations bases the transfer 

 of Eupen and Malmedy on the grounds that these terri- 

 tories were " separated from the neighboring Belgian lands 

 of Limburg, Liege, and Luxemburg in 1814-1815, that 

 at the time " no account was taken of the desires of the 

 peoples, nor of geographical or linguistic frontiers," that 

 "this region has continued in close economic and social rela- 

 tions with the adjacent portions of Belgium," that " in 

 spite of a century of Prussification the Walloon speech has 

 maintained itself among several thousand of its inhabitants,*' 

 and that " at the same time the territory has been made a 

 basis for German militarism by the construction of the 

 great camp at Elsenborn and various strategic railways di- 



