PEACE CONFERENCE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16419, 13 January 1919, Page 7

PEACE CONFERENCE.

THE PRELIMINARIES. (By Cable.—Presa Aaeoeiation.—^ CopynskW (Au»tr*lmn and Cable A*soci*tionJ WASHINGTON, January 10. The State Department learns tha the Peace Conference preliminary will probably begin on January lotn. (Received January 13th, I*3o a.m.) LONDON, January 10. An official announcement is made tha Mr Lloyd George and Mr Bonar Lawaccompanied bv the Prime Ministers o Canada, Australia, South Africa, ant Newfoundland, and tho Maharajah o j Bikanir, •will leave for Paris on th< morning of January 11th for prelimin ary conversations with the heads of th< Allied and associated States. ITALIAN ASPIRATIONS. NEW YORK, January 8. Mr David Lawrence, the Paris cor respondent of the "New York Even ing' Post," states that it would not b surprising to find President sympathising with Italian aspiration in the Adriatic, because there is evi donee that Liberalism is growing u | Italy, and there is less danger of i I misuse of power than Americans hav ! usually been led to believe. MR WILSON'S STANDING. PARIS, January S. President Wilson has informed M Clemonceau that he does not desire U be considered as head of the State a the Conference, but as the Prime Mm ister and leader of the United Stato; Government. , The other American delegates ari Colonel House. Mr Lansing, Mr Henr: White (a former Ambassador), an< General Bliss. The leaders of all the nations an anxious to speed up the meeting, am tho decisions of the Conference _ ir order to secure peace at the earliesi possible moment. THE IDEAL AIMED AT. LONDON, January 9. Sir Newton Moore presided at £ city men's luncheon to Mr W. M Hughes at the llolborn restaurant oi the eve of his departure for the Peac< Conference. Mr Hughes, in responding to th< toast of his health, said the Peace Conference was the most significant even! which had occurred in tho Jiistory o: mankind. "Peace on earth towards men of good will" was still the idea which the Confeience must attempt t< reach. We owed the fact that rigln had triumphed to the valour of oui race. He firmly belioved in the Leagu< of Nations. Although Germany hat abandoned her former .Governmenl some seemed to think she should os cape paying the penalty for hor .crimes and that. we should welcome her intt the League of Nations. We must de mand such terms of peace as were corn patible with our sacrifices. The ternn must be just to ourselves as well as tc the enemy. lie preferred the Ger many which bared its breast to th< enemy rather tUan the one that to dajr grovelled and whined. Not th< Kaiser alone, but all Germany wai guilty. If the Kaiser led them th< people were quite willing to be led They went out to conquer the world and had they won the people of Ger many would havo applauded them. I; Germany stood whore we stood to-daj she would have exacted from us thi uttermost .farthing and torn our Em piro asunder. Germany to-day hac only put on a new garb" but possessec tho same, heart. She had morel} turned King's evidence. The fata spirit of tolerance of this Empire wai again apparent. How could the Leagui of Nations hope to meet the approva of the nations of the earth unless ii imposed penalties on this great crim inalp We should inaugurate a nev era, making it a terrible crime for anj nation to begin war. "We must hart the Pacific Islands," ho said, "and w< must not come out of the Conference short of those principles of freedom foi which Australians have shed theii blood.'[ LEAGUE OF NATIONS. ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES. LONDON, January 10. The Paris correspondent of the "Morning Post" states that an impression has gained ground that tlu economic side will play only a small part in the proposed League of Nations. The exact contrary is the case. The possibility of imposing economical conditions laid down by the Associated Powers, on Allied and enemy countries alike, is the main justification of the League's existence. In the opinion of many judges the League should be the best means oi securing adeounte compensation from Germany without compelling the Allies to 'bolster up German industries. If the Allies pool all their raw materials and the prices at which the floods are to bo sold to the Associated"" Powers and their friends, the League can simultaneously fix higher prices for German indemnity. Such a group of Associated Powers wiould ultimately develop into a League of Nations. AN ALLEGATION. WASHINGTON. January 10 Before the Senate Committee, Edmund von Mach" exprofeesor at Hnrvnrd University' denounced the British Government's propagandist attempts to destroy tho League of Nations. THE FRENCH DELEGATES (Australian and N.Z. Cablo Aviation.) (Received January 12th. 5.5 p . m .) PARIS, January 10. Tho Peace delegates are M. Clemenceau (Premior), M. Pichon (Minister of Foreign Affairs), M. Klotz (Minister of Finance), M. Andre Tardieu (formerly French Commissioner in America) and M. Cambon (Ambassador to England). The newspapers draw attention to the omission of Marshal Foch. A RUSSIAN PLEA. (Received January 12th, 5.5 p m ) ' NEW. YORK, January 9. The Washington correspondent "of the "New York Times" states that official lospatchos from Paris say that tho Russian Peace repreeentative has urgod :he Allied Governments to recognise tho Sll-Ruesian Government at Omsk. FUTURE OF MESOPOTAMIA. (Received January 12th, 5.5 p. m .) WASHINGTON, January 9. Assyrian Christians, natives of Mesopotamia, living in the United States, iavo petitioned the State Department, requesting the Peace Conforenc to place Mesopotamia under the joint pro;ection of the United States, France, ind England.