the beginning of 1918 while the winter held the fighting in check, the subject of war aims was being energetically discussed in all the belligerent countries. At the beginning of January the war aims of the British Labor party were made known, and on January 5 Mr. Lloyd George set forth the British Government's aims in an address before the trade unions. Three days later President Wilson in a mes sage to Congress laid down the famous "fourteen points," with which the British and French Governments a little later expressed their agreement. On Janu ary 24 the German and Austro-Hunga rian Governments replied to President Wilson's presentation of the fourteen points. Von Hertling, the German chancellor, argued against the points in so far as they touched on Poland, Al sace-Lorraine and the German colonies, and held that Belgium could only be dis cussed in union with the inviolability of German territory. The attitude taken by the Government of Austria-Hungary was less unbending and agreement was expressed with the principles underlying most of the while objection was made to those bearing on what was con sidered the internal interests of Austria Hungary. Neither reply met the re quirements of the Allies, and on Febru ary 11, President Wilson, after an Inter-Allied Council at Verdun had ex pressed its dissatisfaction, laid before the joint session of Congress a message in which he outlined the points essential to any basis for the discussion of peace, including regard for the interests of peoples concerned in any settlement and for their national aspirations, having regard also for the essential justice of each case. The upshot was the deoision taken at the third session of the Supreme War Council, held at Versailles during the four days ending February 2, that force should continue to be em ployed till a more amenable temper ap peared on the side of the Central Powers.
In the latter part of February a meet ing called by the Inter-Allied Labor and Socialist Conference indorsed Pres ident Wilson's declaration of principles, and negotiations continued in a hap hazard way till President Wilson early in April declared that force would con tinue to be employed against Germany. Nevertheless expressions of opinion con tinued to be made on one side and an other, and the charge of Count Czernin that the question of Alsace-Lorraine had alone prevented a settlement, Pre mier Clemenceau retorted by publishing the noted "Sixtus Letter" in which ex pression was given to the willingness of the Austrian Emperor to the restoration of Belgium and Serbia and the recogni tion of the rights of France in respect to Alsace-Lorraine. A period of "dis closures" and recriminations followed in which letters by Prince Lichnowsky were followed by diaries by Dr. Milliion, a former director of Krupps, who had settled in Switzerland. In the mean time the Ukraine, having declared a re public, made a peace agreement with Germany, and agreed to exchange food products with the Central Powers, who were to pay in manufactured goods. On March 3 the revolutionary government of Russia signed the treaty of Brest Litovsk, another treaty being signed with Finland, the independence of which was recognized by Germany. In March a treaty was also signed between the Central Powers and the occupied king dom of Rumania. A meeting on May 16 between the German and Austrian emperors at the German headquarters was succeeded by the announcement of a renewal of the alliance between their respective countries for twenty or twenty-five years.
Discussions were, however, not left en tirely to governments and the heads of governments. The Socialist and Labor parties in all the belligerent countries carried on pourparlers indirectly, the up shot generally being that these parties, while holding in common certain princi ples, identified themselves with the war aspirations of their respective countries. Efforts were occasionally made to bring about a conference, and Huysmans, sec retary of the Brussels International Socialist Bureau, invited an expression of opinion from the German Socialists on the memorandum of war aims adopt ed at the Inter-Allied Labor and Social ist Conference at London late in Febru ary. The declaration of war aims con
tained in the memorandum was declared to be annexationist in character by Herr Scheidemann, leader of the German ma jority Socialists, who further announced that German Socialists held to the rev olution of July, 1917. A more concili atory attitude was taken by the German minority Socialists, who submitted a dec laration similar to the statement of the Socialist parties in the countries of the Allies. The attitude of the Socialist parties in the other countries allied with Germany was not made clear at the time, but there was a general feeling that the principles set forth received their adhesion in varying degrees.
So matters in the field of discussion and diplomacy drifted on toward the middle of the year, when in the latter part of June Von Hertling, the German Chancellor, made the statement that he had given his adhesion to the four prin ciples adumbrated by President Wilson, but was averse to the setting up of a League of Nations such as the Allies had suggested. About the same time Von Kiihlmann, the German Foreign Minister, gave it out as his settled opinion that peace could not be achieved on the field of battle and could only be brought about by negotiation.. Nowhere did this expression of opinion arouse sharper protest than in Germany, where a remarkable series of victories stretch ing from the beginning of the war had cultivated an optimism that the darken ing clouds of 1918 had not succeeded in overshadowing. Von Kiihlmann was accordingly forced to resign on July 9, his place being taken by Admiral von Hintze. The discussions in the Reichs tag during this period revealed the underlying pessimism which had begun to lay hold of officials in the German Government and the German military leaders. The recurrence of Independ ence Day in the United States mean while gave President Wilson an oppor tunity to restate the war aims of the United States and of the Powers associ ated with it. He declared that those war aims sought, first, the destruction or reduction to powerlessness of every arbitrary power; secondly, a settlement on the basis of free acceptance of con ditions by the people concerned; thirdly, consent of all nations to be governed in their relations with each other by the principles of honor and respect for the common law of civilized society; fourth ly, the establishment of an organization of peace. Neither the substance nor the manner of President Wilson's address found an answering echo in Germany. The Chancellor, Von Hertling, in reply charged the Allies with being inspired with the spirit of aggressors, and made the declaration that it was not the de cision of the German Government to re main in permanent occupation of Bel gium, and that she was retaining her hold on that country for the service such hold would be to her in Germany's subsequent dealings with the Allied Powers. Meanwhile the part Alsace Lorraine was to play in those negotia tions remained a frequent theme for discussion both in France and in the countries which were aware of the strength of the French sentiment in re gard to it. An influential body of opinion in Germany declared for a pleb iscite such as would let the world know what was the feeling of the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine themselves in re spect to attachment either to France or Germany. But the concession found little favor in France, where it was re alized that German occupation for over forty years and the infiltration of Ger man blood and influences would be likely to lead to results unfavorable to French claims. Meanwhile the pouring out of blood and treasure and the withdrawal of the workers from productive occupa tions had brought on serious conditions in the countries of all the belligerents. Famine threatened the eastern coun tries, and had already caused terrible ravages in India. The remarkable sys tem of organization in the preservation and distribution of food in Germany had staved off starvation, but in Austria Hungary things were more serious. In France, Great Britain, and Portugal, which could all more directly rely on the United States, conditions were less grave.