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GERMANY AND THE PEACE TREATY

Historic Ceremony of Its Delivery to the German
Delegates at Versailles-How It Was Received

[PERIOD ENDED MAY 20, 1919]

HE German delegates received the Treaty of Peace, a document of 80,000 words, from the hands of the Allies in the great dining hall of the Trianon Palace Hotel at Versailles on May 7, 1919. The historic ceremony began at 3:10 in the afternoon and lasted three-quarters of an hour. Delegates of twenty-seven nations composed the assemblage, which, by a curious coincidence, met on the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania.

The occasion marked the culmination of four months of unremitting labor on the part of the Entente. The period between the armistice, Nov. 11, 1918, and the convening of the Peace Conference on Jan. 18, 1919, had been occupied in the selection and arrival of delegates, the organization of the conference under the chairmanship of M. Clemenceau, the preparation of claims and reports, and the untangling of hundreds of knotty problems attendant upon the formulation of the treaty.

No Peace Congress had ever faced so many intricate problems, problems on whose wise and equitable solution the whole future of the world depended. These included the making of a permanent peace; the creation of a League of Nations to control human jealousies and diminish the possibilities of war; the reconciling of conflicting boundary claims of many nations; the setting up of new States within the truncated areas of the vanquished powers, and the insuring of their liberty and unimpaired integrity; the assigning of mandates over millions of humanity in Asia and Africa; the creating of legislative machinery to improve the conditions of labor in all civilized nations of the world.

The program was gigantic, and yet the Peace Conference was everywhere accused of slowness.

As late as April 23 it was reported that the final drafting of the treaty was proceeding with difficulty, owing to the magnitude of the task and the great number of topics only partly concluded. The force working on the draft was doubled, and the Government printing facilities were greatly extended. Special complications were occasioned by the temporary departure of the Italian delegation during the Fiume controversy; it was feared that the Japanese delegation, following Italy's example, would leave the conference because of the Shantung question, but the decision proved to be in Japan's favor. At the last moment Belgium made serious objections to the smallness of the indemnity allowed and to the large share of African territory assigned to British rule, but generous financial concessions by the Allies finally won Belgium's assent to the treaty.

GERMAN PEACE DELEGATES

The personnel and qualifications of the German peace delegation were not decided without diplomatic parleys. It was announced on April 20 that Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, the German Foreign Minister, purposed sending three envoys to Versailles, authorized only to receive the text of the Peace Treaty, considered as a preliminary document; this mission was to be composed of Herr Haniel von Heimhausen, Herr von Keller, and Herr Ernst Schmitt, the two last mentioned legation counselors, to be attended by two officials and two chancellery servants. To this publicly announced intention the allied Governments immediately protested; and on April 21 Germany notified them that she accepted all the allied conditions respecting the Versailles conference, and would send representatives of plenipotentiary rank,

invested with full power to negotiate and sign the treaty.

The personnel of the whole German peace delegation, as finally agreed upon, consisted of six main delegates and a long list of advisers, representatives of industry and finance, labor unions, and other divisions of German intellectual and economic life. The six peace delegates were:

ULRICH BROCKDORFF - RANTZAU, (Count,) German Foreign Minister, Chair

man.

EDUARD DAVID, Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

Dr. WALTHER SCHUECKING, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Marburg, and authority on international law.

Dr. ADOLPH MULLER, lately German Minister at Berne.

JOHANN GIESBERTS, Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.

Theodor MELCHIOR, manager of Warburg & Cc., bankers.

The Colonial representatives were: Herr SCHNEE, Governor of German East Africa.

Herr MARQUARDSON, Privy Councilor. Herr RUPPEL, Privy Councilor.

The expert advisers were the following named professional and business men: 1. Professor AEROBOE, Breslau, agricultural expert.

2. E. ARNHOLD, leader in German industries.

3. Professor BAUMGARTEN, theologian, (Evangelical.)

4. Herr BEUKENBERG of the Phoenix Iron Works, Westphalia.

5. Professor BONN of Munich, known as a great admirer of President Wilson, and author of a book in praise of him.

6. Professor von BRENTANO of Munich, best known for his advocacy of free trade and distinguished as an economist.

7. Dr. CUNO, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hamburg-American Line. 8. Herr DEUTSCH, Director, A. E. G., (General Electric Company,) Charlottenburg. 9. Herr DODEL, Privy Councilor, Cologne. 10. EDUARD BERNSTEIN, Berlin. 11. Herr BOSCH, Anilin Dye Works, Mannheim, leader in war poison gas development. 12. Herr HARDT, Lennep, manufacturer. 13. LOUIS HAGEN, Cologne, banker and industrialist.

14. Herr HARTMANN, Berlin, German Trade Association.

15. Herr HEINECKEN, Bremen, General Director North German Lloyd Steamship Company.

16. Dr. HERGESSEL, Lindenburg, Director Aerological Institute.

17. Herr HILGER, official mining expert.

18. Frau JUCHATZ, member of National Assembly; Majority Socialist.

19. Herr H. STRUCK, Berlin, expert on art.

20. Herr KLEMM, Mannheim, manufact

urer.

21. Bishop KORUM.

22. Herr LEGIEN, General Commissioner of Trade Unions of Germany.

23. Herr LUFBSEN, Director of RhenishWestphalian Coal Syndicate.

24. Herr von MILLER, member of Reichsrat.

25. Herr PLATE, Chairman of Board of Trades Craftsmen.

26. ADOLPH POEHLMANN, Director of Vereinbank of Munich.

27. Dr. WALTER RATHENAU, President of the A. E. G. (General Electric Company.) 28. Dr. GUSTAF RATHIEN, Berlin. 29. Dr. von RIEDMANN, Hamburg, connected with oil interests.

30. LOUIS ROECHLING.

31. Herr SCHMIDT, Director of the Metal Gesellschaft of Frankfort.

32. Herr von STAUSS, Berlin, Director of the Deutsche Bank; leader in finance and in petroleum industry.

33. Herr STEGERWALD of the Association of Christian Trade Unions of Berlin. 34. FREDERICK URBIG, Berlin.

35. Herr VORWERK, Hamburg.

36. MAX WARBURG of Hamburg, banker. 37. Professor MAX WEBER of Hamburg, economist.

38. Herr WITHOEFT of Hamburg.

It was announced on May 9 that eight new members of the German Peace Delegation had reached Versailles, among them Count Alfred von Oberndorff, a member of the German Armistice Commission, who brought credentials as a Minister Plenipotentiary.

PENALTY FOR REFUSAL

German officials of high standing had intimated that Germany might refuse to sign the treaty, in case the conditions should prove to be so hard as to be unacceptable. That the allied Governments were prepared for this eventuality was seen on May 5, when it was officially stated that the complete economic isolation of Germany was being considered by the Council of Foreign Ministers as a measure to be adopted in the event that Germany refused to sign the peace as drawn. The passage of the official statement covering this decision reads as follows:

The council considered plans which had been formulated to bring about the complete economic isolation of Germany in

the event that the German delegates should refuse to sign the preliminaries of peace. The blockade section was directed to draw up and submit for the approval of the Council of Foreign Ministers a plan of blockade measures to be immediately put into effect should the associated Governments desire to have recourse to economic coercion.

FIRST GERMAN ARRIVALS

A

The German official avant-couriers arrived at Versailles on April 25. They were received by Colonel Henry, liaison officer, and other French officials and taken to the Hôtel des Réservoirs, which had been assigned to the housing of the German delegation. This preliminary delegation consisted of Herr von Warendorff, Councilor of Embassy; Herr Walter, a postal Inspector, and Herr Duker of the Supply Department. second party, headed by Baron von Lersner, arrived later in the day. Baron von Lersner, a former Secretary of the German Embassy at Washington, was accompanied by the banker, Herr Warburg, head of the financial delegation, and Herr Danker of the Food Administration. The arrival of this party was so quietly arranged that few people in Versailles knew of its coming. Adequate measures of police protection had been taken by the French Government to insure the safety of the German delegates. It was not expected that the Germans would take extended promenades through the vast park of Versailles, which stretches from their hotel in one direction far beyond the great palace of Louis XIV., and in the other to the Trianon and the Petit Trianon, replete with memories of Mme. Maintenon and Marie Antoinette; and all necessary police precautions had been taken to prevent annoyance by curiosity seekers or possibly by hostile persons in that part of the park adjoining the hotel through which they must pass to and from the Trianon Palace Hotel, where the preliminary discussions were scheduled to take place. The advance delegates settled down quietly, awaiting the arrival of the main delegation. This occurred on April 29.

The six main peace delegates, Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Herr Landserg, Dr. Theodor Melchior, (replacing

Herr Warburg, who had declined appointment on this main mission,) Herr Leinert, Herr Giesberts, and Herr Schuecking, reached Vaucresson, three miles from Versailles, on the evening of April 29. The delegates, accompanied by some sixty experts, assistants, and journalists, traveled in two special trains. Their departure from Berlin had taken place in an atmosphere of pessimism and gloom.

The arrival of Count von BrockdorffRantzau, like so many other great historical events, was singularly unimpressive. The formalities on the station platform were of the briefest character. Baron von Lersner, who commanded the advance party, was there to meet the convoy, and was the first to enter the train. A few moments later he reappeared, followed by Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, whom he presented to Colonel Henry and M. Chaleil, Prefect of the Department of the Seine et Oise. M. Chaleil received Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau with the following words:

Excellency, as Prefect of the department and in the name of the Government, I am charged to receive the delegation of the German plenipotentiaries. I have the honor to salute you. I name (Je vous nomme) to you Colonel Henry, Chief of the French Military Mission, who will act as intermediary between the German plenipotentiaries and the Government of the French Republic and the allied nations.

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau bowed and thanked the Prefect, who led the way out of the station to where motor cars were waiting to take the party to Versailles.

After being photographed by press photographers, the German delegation was conveyed to Versailles and lodged in the hotel apartments provided. Among those who arrived with the party was Dr. Haniel van Heimhausen, already mentioned as one of the mission of three originally intended to be sent by Germany to receive the treaty.

The French plans of isolating the German plenipotentiaries from the general public were developed fully when barricades were erected, consisting of wooden palings bound with wire and set up on both sides of the Hôtel des Réservoirs,

one side of which was reserved for the Germans, the other for residents; strict control, furthermore, was established at all exits to prevent the Germans from leaving these limits without authority.

PRESENTING CREDENTIALS

The

The German plenipotentiaries to the Peace Congress presented their credentials to the Allies on May 1, at a session beginning at 3:10 P. M. and lasting barely ten minutes. This was the first step in the peace negotiations. credentials were submitted to representatives of the Allies and the United States. The ceremony took place in the room of the Trianon Palace Hotel previously used for the sessions of the Supreme Military Council.

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, on entering, was accompanied by Herr Landsberg, Professor Schuecking and two secretaries. Waiting for him, the allied representatives were grouped around Jules Cambon, the former French Ambassador at Berlin, who is Chairman of the commission. Other members of the allied party included Henry White of the United States, Lord Hardinge of Great Britain, and Ambassador Matsui of Japan.

addressed

M. Cambon immediately Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, stating that he was Chairman of the commission intrusted by the allied powers to receive and examine the credentials of the German delegates as the first step in a conference which, it was hoped, would lead to peace. "Here are ours," continued M. Cambon, extending, as he spoke, the formal credentials of the Allied Commission as plenipotentiaries to the Congress. Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau surrendered the German credentials with even less of a formal address. After these brief ceremonies the Germans turned and left the hall, walking a few steps to the cars in waiting. They were followed immediately by the allied representatives.

UNDER LOWERING SKIES

The skies were overcast, and there were occasional showers of rain. This caused abandonment of the original plan, hich contemplated having the Germans k from the Hôtel des Réservoirs

across the park to the Hôtel Trianon, following the historic precedent set by Louis Thiers, the French delegate, in discussing terms of peace with Bismarck in 1871. He, like the Germans of the present delegation, resided at the Hôtel des Réservoirs, and made his way afoot to the little hotel occupied by Bismarck, then the world's diplomatic centre.

At this meeting for the exchange of credentials, the question of Italian participation in the peace was not raised by the German delegates. Nor was the right of the German plenipotentiaries to represent Bavaria in its existing state of political turmoil contested by the allied powers. It was stated semi-officially that such a protest would have been met by the German delegates by a counterprotest on Italy. On May 4 the Interallied Commission met at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris to prepare a report to be submitted to the Germans in writing regarding their credentials. At this meeting Henry White represented the United States. It was understood that the interallied representatives found nothing to question in the German credentials.

On April 30 the spacious dining room of the Hôtel Trianon had received its Peace Congress installation-three long tables, arranged in horseshoe form, covered with the traditional green cloth of diplomacy. Each table extended forty or fifty feet through the room. At the head of the apartment was a table about thirty-five feet long, at which the representatives of the great powers were to sit, with President Poincaré and Premier Clemenceau in the middle. Inside the horseshoe was another table, covered with red plush, and in the space between one side of the horseshoe and the windows was a similar table. In the window openings were a number of smaller square tables for secretaries.

DELIVERY OF THE TREATY

On May 7, just 177 days after the signing of the armistice and 109 days after the associated powers had begun their deliberations, Germany, in the persons of her plenipotentiaries, received through Premier Clemenceau the terms on which France, Great Britain, Italy,

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