ACCESSION to the International Copyright Convention. -Signed at Berlin, November 13, 1908.*

Morocco (French Protectorate) June 16, 1917.

ACCESSION to the Additional Protocol to the International Copyright Convention of November 13, 1908.*—Signed at Berne, March 20, 1914.†

Switzerland

January 26, 1915.

ACCESSION to the International Agreement for the Prevention of False Indications of Origin on Goods.Signed at Washington, June 2, 1911.†

Morocco (French Protectorate) June 30, 1917.

NOTE from the United States Government to the British Government proposing an avowal of the respective views of the Belligerent Powers as to Terms of Peace; Reply thereto of the Allied Governments; and Despatch to His Majesty's Ambassador at Washington respecting the Allied Note.-December 20, 1916/ January 10-13, 1917. §

(No. 1.)-Note communicated by the United States Ambas sador in London to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

THE President of the United States has instructed me to suggest to the Government of His Britannic Majesty a course

*Vol. CII, page 619.

Vol. CIV,

+ Vol. CVII, page 353. page 137.

§ From Parliamentary Papers, "Miscellaneous No. 39 (1916)," and "Miscellaneous Nos. 3 and 5 (1917)."

of action with regard to the present war which he hopes that His Majesty's Government will take under consideration, as suggested in the most friendly spirit and as coming not only from a friend, but also as coming from the representative of a neutral nation whose interests have been most seriously affected by the war, and whose concern for its early conclusion arises out of a manifest necessity to determine how best to safeguard those interests if the war is to continue.

The suggestion which I am instructed to make the President has long had it in his mind to offer. He is somewhat embarrassed to offer it at this particular time, because it may now seem to have been prompted by the recent overtures of the Central Powers. It is, in fact, in no way associated with them in its origin, and the President would have delayed offering it until those overtures had been answered but for the fact that it also concerns the question of peace, and may best be considered in connection with other proposals which have the same end in view. The President can only beg that his suggestion be considered entirely on its own merits and as if it had been made in other circumstances.

The President suggests that an early occasion be sought to call out from all the nations now at war such an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be concluded, and the arrangements which would be deemed satisfactory as a guarantee against its renewal or the kindling of any similar conflict in the future as would make it possible frankly to compare them. He is indifferent He would be

as to the means taken to accomplish this. happy himself to serve or even to take the initiative in its accomplishment in any way that might prove acceptable, but he has no desire to determine the method or the instrumentality. One way will be as acceptable to him as another if only the great object he has in mind be attained.

He takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact that the objects which the statesmen of the belligerents on both sides have in mind in this war are virtually the same, as stated in general terms to their own people and to the world. Each side desires to make the rights and privileges of weak peoples and small States as secure against aggression or denial in the future as the rights and privileges of the great and powerful States now at war. Each wishes itself to be made secure in the future, along with all other nations and peoples, against the recurrence of wars like this, and against aggression or selfish interference of any kind. Each would be jealous of the formation of any more rival leagues to preserve an uncertain balance of power amidst multiplying suspicions; but each is ready to consider the formation of a league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout

the world. Before that final step can be taken, however, each deems it necessary first to settle the issues of the present war upon terms which will certainly safeguard the independence, the territorial integrity, and the political and commercial freedom of the nation involved.

In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace of the world the people and the Government of the United States are as vitally and as directly interested as the Governments now at war. Their interest, moreover, in the means to be adopted to relieve the smaller and weaker peoples of the world of the peril of wrong and violence is as quick and ardent as that of any other people or Government. They stand ready, and even eager, to co-operate in the accomplishment of these ends when the war is over with every influence and resource at their command. But the war must first be concluded. The terms upon which it is to be concluded they are not at liberty to suggest; but the President does feel that it is his right and his duty to point out their intimate interest in its conclusion, lest it should presently be too late to accomplish the greater things which lie beyond its conclusion; lest the situation of neutral nations, now exceedingly hard to endure, be rendered altogether intolerable; and lest more than all an injury be done civilisation itself which can never be atoned or repaired.

The President, therefore, feels altogether justified in suggesting an immediate opportunity for a comparison of views as to the terms which must precede those ultimate arrangements for the peace of the world, which all desire and in which the neutral nations, as well as those at war, are ready to play their full responsible part. If the contest must continue to proceed towards undefined ends by slow attrition until the one group of belligerents or the other is exhausted; if million after million of human lives must continue to be offered up until on the one side or the other there are no more to offer; if resentments must be kindled that can never cool and despairs engendered from which there can be no recovery, hopes of peace and of the willing concert of free peoples will be rendered vain and idle.

The life of the entire world has been profoundly affected. Every part of the great family of mankind has felt the burden and terror of this unprecedented contest of arms. No nation in the civilised world can be said in truth to stand outside its influence or to be safe against its disturbing effects. And yet the concrete objects for which it is being waged have never been definitely stated.

The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has been said, stated those objects in general terms. But, stated in general terms, they seem the same on both sides.

Never

yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either side avowed the precise objects which would, if attained, satisfy them and their people that the war had been fought out. The world has been left to conjecture what definite results, what actual exchange of guarantees, what political or territorial changes or readjustments, what stage of military success even, would bring the war to an end.

It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that the terms which the belligerents on the one side and on the other would deem it necessary to insist upon are not so irreconcilable as some have feared; that an interchange of views would clear the way at least for conference and make the permanent concord of the nations a hope of the immediate future, a concert of nations immediately practicable.

The President is not proposing peace; he is not even offering mediation. He is merely proposing that soundings be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral nations with the belligerents, how near the haven of peace may be for which all mankind longs with an intense and increasing longing. He believes that the spirit in which he speaks and the objects which he seeks will be understood by all concerned, and he confidently hopes for a response which will bring a new light into the affairs of the world.

United States Embassy, London, December 20, 1916.

(No. 2.)-Reply of the Allied Governments to the Note communicated by the United States Ambassador in London on December 20, 1916.

1. LES Gouvernements alliés ont reçu la note qui leur a été remise, le 19 décembre, 1916, au nom du Gouvernement des Etats-Unis. Ils l'ont étudiée avec le soin que leur commandaient à la fois l'exact sentiment qu'ils ont de la gravité de l'heure et la sincère amitié qui les attache au peuple américain.

2. D'une manière générale, ils tiennent à déclarer qu'ils rendent hommage à l'élévation des sentiments dont s'inspire la note américaine, et qu'ils s'associent de tous leurs vœux au projet de création d'une ligue des nations pour assurer la paix et la justice à travers le monde. Ils reconnaissent tous les avantages que présentera, pour la cause de l'humanité et de la civilisation, l'institution de règlements internationaux destinés à éviter les conflits violents entre nations, règlements qui devraient comporter les sanctions nécessaires pour en assurer l'exécution et empêcher ainsi qu'une sécurité apparente ne serve qu'à faciliter de nouvelles agressions.

3. Mais une discussion sur les arrangements futurs destinés à assurer une paix durable suppose d'abord un règlement satisfaisant du conflit actuel. Les Alliés éprouvent un désir aussi profond que le Gouvernement des Etats-Unis de voir se terminer le plus tôt possible la guerre dont les Empires centraux sont responsables, et qui inflige a l'humanité de si cruelles souffrances. Mais ils estiment qu'il est impossible dès aujourd'hui de réaliser une paix qui leur assure les réparations, les restitutions et les garanties auxquelles leur donne droit l'agression dont la responsabilité incombe aux Puissances centrales et dont le principe même tendait à ruiner la sécurité de l'Europe; une paix qui permette, d'autre part, d'établir sur une base solide l'avenir des nations européennes. Les nations alliées ont conscience qu'elles ne combattent pas pour des intérêts égoïstes, mais avant tout pour la sauvegarde de l'indépendance des peuples, du droit et de l'humanité.

4. Les Alliés se rendent pleinement compte des pertes et des souffrances que la guerre fait supporter aux neutres comme aux belligérants et ils les déplorent; mais ils ne s'en tiennent pas pour responsables n'ayant en aucune façon ni voulu, ni provoqué cette guerre, et ils s'efforcent de réduire ces dommages dans toute la mesure compatible avec les exigences inexorables de leur défense contre les violences et les pièges de l'ennemi.

5. C'est avec satisfaction, dès lors, qu'ils prennent acte de la déclaration faite que la communication américaine n'est associée d'aucune manière dans son origine avec celle des Puissances centrales, transmise le 18 décembre,* par le Gouvernement de l'Union. Ils ne doutaient pas, au surplus, de la résolution de ce Gouvernement d'éviter jusqu'à l'apparence d'un appui, même moral, accordé aux auteurs responsables de la guerre.

6. Les Gouvernements alliés croient devoir s'élever de la manière la plus amicale mais la plus nette contre l'assimilation établie dans la note américaine entre les deux groupes de belligérants; cette assimilation, basée sur des déclarations publiques des Puissances centrales, est en opposition directe avec l'évidence, tant en ce qui concerne les responsabilités du passé qu'en ce qui concerne les garanties de l'avenir; le Président Wilson, en la mentionnant, n'a certainement pas entendu s'y associer.

7. S'il y a un fait historique établi à l'heure actuelle, c'est la volonté d'agression de l'Allemagne et de l'AutricheHongrie pour assurer leur hégémonie sur l'Europe et leur domination économique sur le monde. L'Allemagne a

* Vol. CX, page 496.