Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 312, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1917 — Text of Allied Reply To Central Powers’ Note. [ARTICLE]

Text of Allied Reply To Central Powers’ Note.

Paris, January 1, 1917.—The text, In part, of the reply of the allied nations to the peace note of the central powers follows: - The allied governments, united for. the defense of the liberty of their peoples‘and faithful to engagements taken hot to lay down their arms collectively to the pretended propositions of peace which were addressed to thein on behalf of the enemy governments through the intermediary of the United States, Spain, Switzerland and Holland. Before making any reply the allied powers desire particularly to protest against the two essential assertions of the note, of the enemy powers that oretend to throw upon the allies reBponsibility for the war and proclaim h<J‘victory of the central powers. governments can not admit anMffirnjation doubly inexact and ■which suffidSik,to render sterile all tentative negotiations. The allied nations have sustained for thirty month?, a war they did tterything to avoid. They have shown Tty their acts their attachment to peace. That attachment is as strong tfday as it was in 1914. But it is not Upon the word of Germany, after the Violation of its engagements, that the peace broken by her may be based. A mere suggestion, without a statement of terms, that negotiations should be opened, is not an offer of peace. The putting forward by the imperial government of a sham proposal lacking all substance and precision, would appear to be less an offer of peace than a war maneuver. It is founded on calculated misinter-, prelation of the character of the struggle in the past, the present 1 and the future.

As for the past, the German note 'takes no account of the facts, dates and figures which established that the wan was desired, provoked and declared by Germany and AustriaHungary. At the Hague, conference it was a German delegate who refused all proposals for disarmament. In July, 1914, it was Austria-Hungary, who after having addressed to Serina an unprecedented ultimatum, declared war upon her in spite of the satisfaction which at once had been accorded. ■The central empires then rejected all attempts made by the entente to bring about a pacific solution of a purely local Conflict. Great Britain suggested a conference. France proposed an international commission, The emperor of Russia asked the German emperor to go to arbitration and Russia and Aiistria-Hungary came to an understanding on thekeve of the conflict. But to all these efforts Germany neither gave answer nor effect. Belgium was invaded by an empire which-had guaranteed her neutrality and which had the assurance to proclaim that treaties were “scraps of paper” and that “necessity knows no law.”

At the present moment these sham offers on the part of Germany rest on the war map of Europe alone, which represents nothing more than a superficial and passing phase of the situation and not the real strength of the belligerents. A peace concluded upon these terms would be only to the advantage of the aggressors, who, after imagining that they would reach their goaryi two months, discovered after two years that they could never attain it. As for the future,- the- disasters caused by the German declaration of war and the innumerable outrages committed by Germany and her allies against both belligerents and neutrals, demand penalties, reparation and guaranties. Germany avoids mention of any of these. In reality, thesg dffertures made by the, gentral powers, are nothing more thana calculated attempt to influence the future course of war and to end it by imposing German peace. The object of these overtures is to create dissension in public opinion in the allied countries. But that public opinion has, in spite of all the sacrifices endured by the allies, already given its answer with . admirable firmness and has denoup.ed the empty pretenses of the declaration of the enemy papers.

They have the further object pi stiffening. public opinion in Germany and in the countries allied to her—one and all severely tried by their losses, worn out by economic pressure and crushed by the supreme effort which has been imposed upon their inhabitants. They endeavor to deceive and intimidate public opinion in neutral countries, whose inhabitants have long since made up their minds where the initial responsibilities Me and are far too enlightened to favor the designs of Germany by abandoning the defense of human freedom. Fully conscious of the gravity of this moment, but equally conscious of its requirements, the allied governments, closely united to pne another and in perfect sympathy' with their .peoples, refuse to consider a, proposal which is .erfipty and insincere. Once again the allies declare that no peace is possible so long as they have not secured reparation for violated rights and liberties, the recognition of the principle of nationalities and of the free existence of small states: so long as they have not brought about a settlement calculated to end once and for all forces which have constituted a perpetual menace to the nations and to afford the only effective guaranty for future security of the world. In conclusion, the allied powers think It necessary to put forward the following considerations,'which show the special situation of Belgium after

‘s two and a half years of war. In virtue of the international treaties signed by five great European powers, of whom Germany was one, Belgium enjoyed before the war. a special status rendering her territory inviolable and placing her under the guaranty of the powers, outside all European conflicts. She was, however, in spite of these treaties, the first to suffer the aggression of Germany. For this reason the Belgium government now thinks it necessary to define the aims which Belgium has never ceased to pursue while fighting side by side with the entente powers for right and justice. 1 Belgium has always scrupulously fulfilled the duties which her neutrality impoesd upon her. She has taken up arms to defend her independence and her neutrality, violated by Germany, and to show that she remains faithful to her international obligations. On the 4th of August, 1914, in the reichstag. the German chancellor admitted that this aggression constituted an injustice contrary to the laws

Of nations and pledged himself in the name of Germany to repair it. Durirfg two and a half years this injustice has been cruelly aggravated by the proceedings of the occupying forces which has exhausted the resources of the country, ruined its industries, devastated its towns and villages and have been responsible for innumerable massacres, executions and imprisonments. r At this very moment, while Germany is proclaiming peace and humanity to the world, she is deporting vßelgian citizens by thousands and reducing them to slavery. .. •Belgium, before the war, asked for nothing but to live in harmony with ■her ■ neighbors. Her king and her government have but one aim—the re-establishment of peace and justice. But they only desire peace which would assure to their country legitimate reparation, guaranties and safeguards for the future.