THE PEACE TREATY

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1919, Page 6

THE PEACE TREATY

IT'S PRESENTATION.

GREAT HISTORIC EVENT.

Allies and Germans Meet at

Versailles.

Reception of Peace Terms. London, May, 8. The dining-room of ,the Trianon Palace Hotel at Versailles was the scene yesterday afternoon of one of the greatest events in history—the delivery to the German delegates of the terms upon which the Allies were prepared to make peace.

M. Clemenceau declared the joint session of the Allied and German delegates open at three o'clock. Every place was taken ground the tables, except two of the Ave seats reserved for the Italians, the remaining three of which were occupied by Signor Orlando, Baron Sonnino, and Signor Crespi. M. Clemenceau had, on his right, in the order given, President Wilson, Mr. Lansing, Mr. Henry White, Colonel House, and General Bliss; on his left, in order, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Barnes, and Sir Joseph Ward. In addition to the last-named, Mr. Hughes, General Botha, General Smuts, Sir Robert Borden, Mr. A. L. Sifton (Canada), Mr. Massey (New Zealand), Lord Sinha and the Maharajah of Bikanar represented the British Dominions and India.

The German delegates occupied the table at the end of ,the Allies' horseshoe, facing the Presidential tables. Cotmt Brockdorff-Rantisau, Imperial Minister for Foreign Affairs, was seated in the middle. On his right were Dr. Landsberg, Imperial Minister of Justice; Herr Giesbeiifcs, Imperial Minister of Posts; and Herr Lienert, President of the Prussian Assembly. On his left, Professor Shucking and Dr. Karl Melehi»r.

A narrow gangway had teen left between the President's table and the table st which the British and Dominion delegates were seated, so that M. Dutasta, the Secretary-General of the Conference, would be able to enter the enclosure in order to hand the Treaty to the Germans. At each Allied delegate's place was a paper setting forth the order of the day. It gave in French and English a brief resume of the speech with which M. Clemenceau was about to open the sitting. By three o'clock all the Allied delegates were in their places. A few minutes after that hour the Germans, headed by Count Brockdorff-Rantzau and accompanied by a French officer, filed I into the room in silence, bowed, and took [their seats.

All were correctly and sombrely garbed' in black morning coats with dark neckties. Count. Rantzau took his seat at the centre of his table, having on his right Dr. Landsberg, whose flaming beard was the only spot of color in the whole delegation, Herr Giesberts and Herr Leinert, and on his left Professor Schucklng and Dr. Karl Mslchior, The lest of the seven chairs at .the' German table on Count Rantzau's left remained unfilled.

While M. Clemenceau was speaking, M. Dutasta entered the space between the German and the Allied tables, and, with a slight bow, handed the bulky quarto volume containing the peace conditions to Count Rantzau, who rose to receive it.

M. CLEMENCEAtTS SPEECH. THE TIME HAS COME TO SETTLF ACCOUNTS. M. Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, spoke as follows: "Gentlemen, plenipotentiaries of the German Empire, it is neither the time nor place for. superfluous words. You have before you the accredited plenipotentiaries of the Small and Great Powers, united to fight together in the war that was so cruelly imposed upon them. "The time has come when we must settle our accounts. You have asked for peace. We are ready to give you peace. We shall present to you now a book which contains our conditions. You will be given every facility to examine these conditions and the time necessary for it. Everything will be done with the courtesy that is the privilege of civilised nations.

"To give you my thoughts completely, you will find us ready to give you any explanation you want, but, we must say at the same time that this Second Treaty of Versailles has cost us too much not to take on our side all the necessary precautions and guarantees that this peace shall be a lasting one. "I will give" you notice of the procedure that has been adopted by the Conference for discussion, and if anyone has any observation to offer he will have the right to do so. No oral discussion is to take place, and the observations of the German delegation will have to be submitted in writing. The German plenipotentiaries will know they haVe the maximum period of fifteen days within which to present in English and French their written observations on the whole of the Treaty, the headings of which are as follows:—

"League of Nations; Geographical Frontiers of Germany; Political Clauses for Europe; Belgium, Luxembourg, the Sarr, Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Pbland, and Eastern Prussia, Denmark, Heligoland;; Clauses concerning Russia and the Russian States; Recognition of New European States; Political Clauses for Countries Outside Europe: General Clause of Renunciation of Colonies, Siam, Liberia, Morocao, Egypt, Turkey, and Bulgaria, Shantung; Military, Naval, and Aerial Clauses; War Prisoners; Responsibilities and Punishments; Repatriations and Restitutions; Financial Classes; Economic Clauses; Ports, Waterways, Rivers, and Railways; Aerial Navigation; Organisation of Labor; Guarantees and Occupation of Territories; Final Clauses:; Execution of the Armistice; End of the War; State of Peace.

"Before the expiration of the aforefiaid period of fifteen days, the German delegates will lie entitled to send their reply o|n particular headings of ihe Treaty or to ask questions in regard .to thejn. After having examined the observations presented within the aforementioned period, the Supreme Council will send their answer in writing ,to the German delegation and determine the period within which the final answer must be given by that delegation.

"I wish to add that when we receive, •tter two or three or four or five <says, jay obwrntoryfew-tlw Qtrmna ftiin

gation on any point of the Treaty, we shall Jiot wait until the end of fifteen days to give our Answer; we shall at once proceed in the way indicated by this document."

BANTZAU IN REPLY. ARROGANT ATTITUDE. Count BrockdorfT-Rantzau, speaking in German (the speech was translated into French and English), said: "Gentlemen, we are deeply impressed with the sublime task which has brought us hither ,to give a durable peace to the world. We are under no illusion as'to the extent of our defeat and the degree of our want of power. We know that the power of the German arms is broken. We know the power of the hatred which we encounter here, and we have heard the passionate demand that the victors shall make us pay as the vanquished, and shall punish those who are worthy of being punished. It is demanded of us that we shall confess ourselves to be the only one guilty of the war. Such a confession in my mouth will be a lieWe are far from declining any responsibility for this great world war having come to pass, and for its having been made in the way in which it was made. The attitude of the former German Government a,t the Hague Peace Conference, its actions and omissiohs in the tragic twelve days of July, certainly contributed to the disaster, but we energetically deny that Germany and its people, who were convinced that they were making a war of defence, were alone guilty. Nobody will want to contend that the i, disaster took its course only in the disastrous moment when the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary fell the victim of murderous hands. In the last fifty years the Imperialism of all the European States has chronically poisoned j the international situation. The policy of retaliation and the policy of expansion and the disregard of the rights of peoples to determine their own destiny have contributed to the illness of Europe, which reached its crisis in the world war.

NEUTRAL INQUIRY DEMANDED. The Russian mobilisation took from the statesmen the possibility of healing, and gave the decision into the hands of the military powers. Public opinion in all ,the countries of our adversaries is resounding with the crimes which Germany is said to have committed in the war. Here, alsa we are ready to confess the wrong that may have been done. We have not come here to belittle the responsibility of the men who have waged the war politically and economically and to deny any crimes which may have been committed against the rights of peoples. We repeat the declaration made in the German Reichstag at the beginning of the war, that is to say, "a wrong has been done to Belgium, and we are wining to repair it." But in the manner of making war also Germany is no;t the only guilty one; every nation knows of deeds of people which the best nationals only remember with regret. I do not want to answer by reproaches to reproaches, but I aßk them to remember when reparation is demanded not to forget the armistice. It took you six weeks till we got it at laft, and six months .till we came to know your conditions of peace Crimes in war may not be excusable, but they are committed in the struggle for victory and in the defence of national existence, and passions are aroused which make the conscience of peoples blunt. The hundreds oif thousands of non-com-batants who have perished since November 11 by reason of the 'blockade were killed with cold deliberation after our adversaries had conquered and victory bad been assured to them. Think of that when you speak of guilt and punishment. The measure of guilt of all those who have taken part can only be stated by impartial inquiry before a neutral commission, before which all the principal persons of the tragedy are allowed to speak and to which all the archives are open. We have demanded such an inquiry, and we repeat this demand again at this conference, where we stand facing our adversaries alone and without any allies.

"We are not quite without protection. You yourselves have brought us an ally, namely, the right which is guaranteed by the Treaty by the principles of the peace. The Allied and Associated Governments forswore in the time between October 5 and November 5, 11)18, a Peace of Violence and wrote a 'Peace of Justice' on their banner. On October !>, 1918, the German Government proposed the principles of the President of the United States of North America as the basis of peace, and on November 5 their Secretary of State, Mr. Lansing, declared that the Allied and Associated Powers agreed to this basis with two definite deviations- The principles of President Wilson have thus become binding for both parties to the war—you as well as for us, and also for our former allies. The various principles demand from us heavy national and economic sacrifices, but the holy fundamental rights of all peoples are protected by this Treaty The conscience of the world is behind it. There is no nation which might.violate it without punishment.

, RESTITUTION. "You will find us: ready to examine upon this basis the preliminary peace which you have proposed to us with the firm intention of rebuilding in common with you that which has been destroyed and repairing any wrong that may have been committed—principally the wrong to Belgium—and to show to mankind new aims of political and social progress. Considering the tremendous number of problems which arise,y we ought as soon as possible to make/an examination of the principal tasks by special commissions of exper.ts on the basis of the treaty which you have proposed to us. In this it will be our chief task to reestablish the devastated vigor of mankind and of all the people who have taken part by an international protection of life, health, and liberty of the working classes. "As our next aim, I consider the reconstruction of the territories of Belgium and Northern France, which have been occupied by us and which have been destroyed by war. To do this we have taken upon ourselves a solemn obligation, and we are resolved to execute it to the extent which will have been agreed upon between us. In this task we cannot do without the co-opora.tion of our former adversaries. We cannot accomplish the worlc without the technical and financial participation of the victorious peoples, •and you cannot execute it without us. Impoverished Europe must desire that the reconstruction shall be fulfilled with the greatest success, and with as little expense as is in any way possible. This desire can only be fulfilled by a clear understanding about the best methods to be employed. It would be the worst method to go on and have the work done iby German prisoners of war. Certainly oasfctiiii

world dear if haired ami despair should seize the German people when ihey consider .that their brothers and sons and fathers who are prisoners are kept prisoners beyond the preliminary peace in the former penal work. Without any immediate solution of this question, which has been drawn out too long, we cannot come to a durable peace. Our experts of bo,th sides will have to examine how ermau people may come up to their financial obligations to make restitution without succumbing under the heavy burden. A crash would bereave those who have the right to restitution of the advantages to which they have a claim and would draw after it an irretrievable disorder of tlie whole European economical sys.tem. The vanquishers, as well as the vanquished people, must guard against this menacing danger with its incalculable consequences. There is only one means of banishing it —unlimited confession of the economical and social solidarity of all peoples in a free and rising League of Nations. Gentlemen, the sublime thought to be derived from the most terrible disaster in the history of mankind is the League of Nations. The greatest progress in the development of mankind has been pronounced and will make its way. Only if the gates of the League of Nations are thrown open to all who are of goodwill can the aim be attained, and' only then the dead of this war will not have died in vain. The German people in their hearts are ready to take upon themselves their heavy lot if the bases of peace, which have been established, are not any more shaken. The peace which cannot be defended in the name of right before the world always calls forth new resistances against it. Nobody will be capable of subscribing to it with a good conscience, for it will not be possible of fulfilment. _ Nobody could be able to take upon itself the guarantee of its execution which ought to lie in its signature. We shall examine the document handed to us with goodwill, and in the hope the fin-al result of our interview may "be subscribed to by all of us. M. Clemenceau said: Has anybody any more observations to offer? Does no one wish to speak? If not, the meeting is closed.