PEACE PRINCIPLES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 168, 5 April 1918, Page 5

PEACE PRINCIPLES

STATEMENT BY COUNT CZERNIN .j AUSTRIA'S DESIRE TO ; NEGOTIATE.... \ . London, April 3. \ A wireless message from Amsterdam ; states that Count Czernin, Austrian ! Foreign' Minister,' 'speaking before the | Vipna (?} City Corporation, declared that he, liko Count Hertling, accepted j President "n'ilson's principles for peace. j Ho wondered whether America's Allies ,would likewiso accept them. M. Cle- ; menceau, lie said, had asked him a.few .> days before the offensive whether he wanted to negotiate, and if so on what j basis. Count Czernin had replied that j ho would gladly negotiate forthwith, on ; the basis of the status quo regarding > Alsace_Jjorraine. The French Govern- ' nieht tnoreupon declined any negotia- j tions. Count Czernm etwke at length ; upon tlie solidarity of the German- ; Austrian Alliance. Austrian and Ger- "J man soldiers were fighting together on > the West front for tho safety of tho j future and maintenance of the Central j Powers, not for annexation or imper- i ialistio aims. . : Count Czernin said he did not be- I lieve that President Wilson desired to ■ separate yienna from Berlin. He prol>- j ably considered that Austria-Hungary, j with a monarch genuinely and honour- "j ably desiring general poa.ee, would re- ■! present a favourable soil for sowing j seeds. Ho understood that President j Wilson received the test of his former j speech before delivery, but that it did ; not arrive in Washington till a few j days later. Hβ-added: "This is niy j witness. We tried everything to avoid ■:'. the now offensive. Iu the gigantio ! struggle which has now begun our ! armies will show the Entente that tha 1 French and Italian aspirations for our ! territory will be terribly avenged. The ,; Entente's attitude, which verges on : . lunacy, surely cannot bo based on cer- i tain domestic events here."—Aus.- : N.Z. Cable Assn. , [A message received yesterday stat- i ed that Mr. Bernstein, the "New York : Herald's" Petrograd correspondent, j learned that Austria nsked England to J negotiate a separate peace with ■ the I Allies on October 3. England, after ;; she had received the Allies' assent, ; asked for terms, but Austria stated \ that she wished to conduct secret no-" ' gotiations apart. from Germany.. She said she would guaranteo the status quo in Italy. Tho Russian Provisional j Government was willing to negotiate, j but meanwhile the Provisional Govern- j ment was deposed, and the negotiations j were dropped.] j