PEACE OVERTURES.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 26 January 1917, Page 5

PEACE OVERTURES.

THE PERSISTENT PRESIDENT. Received 9.45. WASHINGTON Jan 25. President Wilson is planning a third move, which is believed in diplomatic circles to be the last. The purport is not disclosed. PRESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECH. MR. BONAR LAW’S REPLY. LONDON, Jan 25. Mr. Bonar Law, speaking at Bristol, and replying to President Wilson’s speech, declared that the Germans’ socalled peace offer received the Allies’ only possible reply. “We believe the essence of this conflict is the question which is as old as time, namely, the difference between right and wrong. We know this is a war of naked aggression, that the crimes which accompanied the conduct of the war — which were unknown in the world for centuries —are small compared with the initial crime of plunging the world into war by cold-blooded calculation, because those responsible thought it would pay. Our aim coincides with President Wilson’s —an effort to secure the present and future peace of the world. It is not right to regard President Wilson’s effort in regard to a League of Peace as altogether Utopian. The subject is not an abstract question for the future, but a question of life and death is now proceeding. Mr. Bonar Law dwelt on the past efforts which had been made to render war impossible or, at least to mitigate its horrors. We rejected the German negotiations offer because peace now would mean peace based on German victory and leave the military machine unbroken, with a halo of success surrounding it. The controllers of that machine would again prepare for war, choosing a convenient time to begin. What President Wilson is longing for, we are fighting for. Our men are risking their lives for it and we mean to secure it. SWEDISH PRESS VIEWS. STOCKHOLM, Jan 24. Newspapers of both parties interpret President Wilson’s speech as antagonistic to the Entente.