146 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [^444 



gress of Januar}' 8, 191 8, in which President Wilson 

 promises a free, sincere and absolutely impartial settlement 

 of all colonial claims." 



In justification of their demand for Germany's relinquish- 

 ment of her colonies, the Allies counter with the reference 

 to President Wilson's same address to Congress, called upon 

 by the Germans to prove the injustice of the Allies' request. 

 Their response reads in part as follows : 



In requiring Germany to renounce all her rights and claims to her 

 overseas possessions, the Allied and Associated Powers placed be- 

 fore every other consideration the interests of the native popula- 

 tions advocated by President Wilson in the fifth point of his four- 

 teen points mentioned in his address of the 8th of January, 1918. 

 Reference to the evidence from German sources previous to the 

 war, of an official as well as of a private character, and to the 

 formal charges made in the Reichstag, especially by MM. Erzberger 

 and Noske, will suffice to throw full light upon the German colonial 

 administration. . . . 



As an additional reason for their demand of the German 

 colonies they answer that: 



Moreover, the Allied and Associated Powers felt themselves com- 

 pelled to safeguard their own security and the peace of the world 

 against a military imperialism which sought to establish bases 

 whence it could pursue a policy of interference and intimidation 

 against the other Powers. 



The cession by Germany to France of Alsace-Lorraine is 

 to be unconditional, without consultation of the population 

 as to its consent or opposition of such a transfer, in order 

 "to redress the wrong done by Germany in 1871 both to 

 the rights of France and to the wishes of the population 

 of Alsace and Lorraine, which were separated from that 

 country in spite of the solemn protest of their representa- 

 tives at the Assembly of Bordeaux." 



The right of option by the inhabitants is not specified in 

 the Treaty. French nationality is granted by the cession 

 ipso facto to " (i) persons who lost French nationality by 

 the application of the Franco-German Treaty of May 10, 

 1871, and who have not since that date acquired any na- 

 tionality other than German ; (2) the legitimate or natural 

 descendants of the persons referred to in the immediately 

 preceding paragraph. . . ." 



