Appendix K 



The first elements in enduring peace are mutual confidence 

 and common obedience to law. At the present time, the world 

 does not trust the government of Germany, either its own 

 good intentions or its power to resist the intrigues of the "All- 

 deutschtum Verband" and similar societies devoted to a 

 policy of aggression. 



With no especial right to speak, it seems to me impossible 

 for my country to consider any peace terms as yet proffered 

 by Germany and Austria. 



In brief, these offers all begin substantially with the formula: 

 "Whereas, we are victorious in the war which was forced upon 

 us." If these words express the actual opinion of the Germans, 

 peace is still far away. If they represent merely a diplomatic 

 formula, we must wait until the German people is brave enough 

 to repudiate these singular combinations of bluster and whining. 



Whatever the victories of the Central Powers, they are 

 only partial and temporary and have little bearing on the final 

 result. Moreover, if they were apparently decisive, it would 

 simply force the Allies, and especially America, to redoubled 

 efforts. For the people of this continent will never permit any 

 further extension of dynastic control. They will not consent 

 to the acquisition of territory or indemnities by the Central 

 Powers under any pretext whatever. 



It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the invasion of 

 Belgium made German victory wholly impossible. 



Moreover, again, the world will not for a moment accept 

 the grotesque plea that this war was forced on the Central 

 Powers by any ruler or state or combination of states. That 

 assertion, which nobody can believe, belies all claim of sincerity. 



Furthermore, as already indicated, a league of peace must 

 be a grouping of free peoples, not a replica of the disastrous 

 Holy Alliance of the last century. And to imagine Imperial 

 Germany the leader in such a league (as recently suggested 

 by a German Chancellor) would involve an incongruity beyond 

 the range of democratic conception. 



So far as Belgium, Serbia, Armenia, and Alsace-Lorraine 

 are concerned, the words of Ulrich von Hutten, spoken four 

 hundred years ago, are still pertinent: "There can never be 

 peace between the robber and the robbed until the stolen 

 goods are returned." We are not yet assured that the German 



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