FOCH. AND THE ARMISTICE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 August 1929, Page 8

FOCH. AND THE ARMISTICE

It has long been known that Foch was quite satisfied to stop the war the moment the Germans agreed to his conditions and that he stated that further loss of life would not be justified. Apparently, however, judging by. an article in a recent “Christian Science Monitor,” it has been believed- in America that but for President Wilson’s influence Foeli would have invaded Germany. Writing in the “Yale Review,” Professor Charles Seymour, who was chief of the AustroHungarian division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, corrects this idea. The article in tlie “Monitor” says: “Publication of Colonel House’s papers, according to Professor Seymour, reveals also that General Pershing was the only member of the Allied command who opposed granting the armistice. When Colonel House laid Pershing’s memorandum before Clemenceau ami Lloyd George, advising the continuance of the war, they brushed it aside with some contempt,’ Professor Seymour declares. Publication of the House papers lias now made plain that. . . . what the President offered Germany in his October Notes was not peace, or even an armistice, but merely the privilege of applying to the Allied and Associated Powers at Versailles for an armistice,” Professor Seymour writes. “Wilson gave no instructions to Colonel House, nor did he himself exercise any direct influence upon Allied leaders. He merely made peace practicable by putting Germany’s request before them. They were free to accept or refuse. In the end it was the opinion of Marshal Foch himself chat prevailed. That Focfi himself approved the granting of the armistice is plain from the following conversation. It is recorded in a letter to Colonel House, written by Paul Manfoux, interpreter for the Supreme AVar Council. According to his notes, the conversation was as follows : ‘House asks Foch : “Will you tell us, M. lc Marechal, solely from the military point of view, apart from any other consideration, whether you would prefer the Germans to reject or to sign the armistice as outlined here?” Foch replies: “Fighting means struggling for certain results. If the Germans now sign . . . chose results are in our possession. This being achieved no man lias the right to cause another drop of blood to be shed.