DIPLOMATIC NOTES

FROM APRIL 20 TO MAY 20

PREPARED BY

ALLAN WESTCOTT, Associate Professor, U. S. Naval Academy

PEACE TREATY HANDED TO GERMANY

The German peace delegates arrived in Paris on April 29, and on May 1, in a brief ceremony, exchanged credentials with representatives of the Allied Powers. On May 7, the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, the peace treaty was handed to the German plenipotentiaries in the great hall of the Trianon Palace Hotel at Versailles. Six leaders of the German delegation were present, with eight secretaries and interpreters, and they were met by representatives of the 22 states which had declared war on Germany.

Premier Clemenceau in his opening speech stated that all observations made by the German delegation must be in writing, that there would be no oral discussion, and that the limit of time for consideration of the terms would be two weeks (until May 22). This limit was later made May 29.

In his reply, spoken in German, Count Von Brockendorff-Rantzau admitted the defeat and powerlessness of Germany, but denied that she alone was responsible for the war. He referred to "hundreds of thousands of non-combatants who have perished since November 11 by reason of the blockade," and insisted on a peace in accordance with President Wilson's fourteen points.

MAIN TERMS OF PEACE TREATY.-A full official summary of the Peace Treaty was issued on May 7 and appeared in the American press on May 8. The parts relating to the League of Nations are given elsewhere in the Notes. A briefer summary follows:

It is the longest treaty ever drawn. It totals about 80,000 words, is divided into fifteen main sections, and represents the combined product of over a thousand experts working continually through a series of commissions for three and a half months, since January 18. The treaty is printed in parallel pages of English and French, which are recognized as having equal validity. It does not deal with questions affecting Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey, except in so far as binding Germany to accept any agreement. reached with those former allies.

Following the preamble and deposition of powers come the covenant of the League of Nations as the first section of the treaty. The frontiers of Germany in Europe are defined in the second section. European political clauses are given in the third, and extra-European political classes in the fourth. Next are the military, naval, and air terms as the fifth section, fol

lowed by a section on prisoners of war and military graves, and a seventh on responsibilities. Reparations, financial terms, and economic terms are covered in Sections VIII to X. Then comes the aeronautic section, ports, waterways, and railways section, the labor covenant, the section on guarantees, and the financial clauses.

Germany by the terms of the treaty restores Alsace-Lorraine to France, accepts the internationalization of the Sarre Basin temporarily and of Danzig permanently, agrees to territorial changes toward Belgium and Denmark and in East Prussia, cedes most of Upper Silesia to Poland, and renounces all territorial and political rights outside of Europe, as to her own or her allies' territories, and especially to Morocco, Egypt, Siam, Liberia, and Shantung. She also recognizes the total independence of German Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

Her army is reduced to 100,000 men, including officers; conscription within her territories is abolished; all forts to fifty kilometers east of the Rhine are razed, and all importation, exportation, and nearly all production of war material stopped. Allied occupation of parts of Germany will continue till reparation is made, but will be reduced at the end of each of three five-year periods if Germany is fulfilling her obligations. Any violation by Germany of the conditions as to the zone 50 kilometers east of the Rhine will be regarded as an act of war.

The German Navy is reduced to six battleships, six light cruisers, and twelve torpedo boats, without submarines, and a personnel of not over 15,000. All other vessels must be surrendered or destroyed. Germany is forbidden to build forts controlling the Baltic, must demolish Heligoland, open the Kiel Canal to all nations, and surrender her 14 submarine cables. She may have no military or naval air forces except 100 unarmed seaplanes until October I to detect mines, and may manufacture aviation material for six months.

Germany accepts full responsibility for all damages caused to the allied and associated governments and nationals, agrees specifically to reimburse all civilian damages, beginning with an initial payment of 20,000,000,000 marks (about $5,000,000,000 at pre-war reckoning), subsequent payments to be secured by bonds to be issued at the discretion of the Reparation Commission. Germany is to pay shipping damage on a ton-for-ton basis by cession of a large part of her merchant, coasting, and river fleets, and by new construction; and to devote her economic resources to the rebuilding of the devastated regions.

She agrees to return to the 1914 most-favored nation tariffs, without discrimination of any sort; to allow allied and associated nationals freedom of transit through her territories, and to accept highly detailed provisions as to pre-war debts, unfair competition, internationalization of roads and rivers, and other economic and financial clauses. She also agrees to the trial of the ex-Kaiser by an international high court for a supreme offense against international morality, and of other nationals for violation of the laws and customs of war, Holland to be asked to extradite the former and Germany being responsible for delivering the latter.

Germany is required to deliver manuscripts and prints equivalent in value to those destroyed in the Louvain Library. She must also return works of church art removed from Belgium to Germany.

The League of Nations is accepted by the allied and associated powers as operative, and by Germany, in principle, but without membership. Similarly, an international labor body is brought into being with a permanent office and an annual convention. A great number of international bodies of different kinds and for different purposes are created, some under the League of Nations, some to execute the Peace Treaty; among the former is the Commission to Govern the Sarre Basin till a plebiscite is held, 15 years hence; the High Commissioner of Danzig, which is created

into a free city under the League, and various commissions for plebiscites in Malmedy, Schleswig, and East Prussia. Among those to carry out the Peace Treaty are the Reparations, Military, Naval, Air, Financial, and Economic Commissions, the International High Court and Military Tribunals to Fix Responsibilities, and a series of bodies for the control of international rivers.

Certain problems are left for solution between the allied and associated powers, notably the details of the disposition of the German fleet and cables, the former German colonies, and the values paid in reparation. Certain other problems, such as the laws of the air and the opium, arms, and liquor traffic, are either agreed to in detail or set for early international action.-N. Y. Times, 8/5.

GERMANY'S LOST TERRITORY.-It is estimated that the Peace Treaty will deprive Germany of 1,075,607 square miles of territory (47,787 in Europe) and 15,000,000 people (12,041,603 natives in former colonial possessions). A table of territorial losses follows:

Danzig internationalized areas.

Sarre coal basin, to France.

Parts of Silesia, Posen, and West Prussia, to Poland.

Southeastern third of East Prussia, nationality to be determined by plebiscite

27,683

729

738

5,785

Part of Schleswig, nationality to be determined by popular vote, with view to reversion to Denmark......

2,787

GERMAN NOTES AND PROTESTS.-In the period of two weeks pending action on the Peace Treaty, the German delegates presented a number of long notes and protests. The Allies appointed 13 committees to consider and reply to these proposals, the members, however, including none of the "Council of Four," who turned their attention to the Austrian peace terms. The protests presented by Germany included the following:

(1) Note on repatriation of prisoners, submitted May 11, expressing satisfaction that the Allied Powers recognized in principle the repatriation of

German prisoners without delay, and proposing that details be taken up at once by joint commissions.

(2) Note on international labor legislation, submitted May 11, proposing a conference at Versailles of representatives of trade unions of all the contracting powers, the proceedings to be based on the proposals of the International Trade Union Conference held at Berne in February. In a reply dated May 14, M. Clemenceau conveyed the opinion of the Allied and Associated Powers to the effect that labor legislation was sufficiently provided for in Part XIII of the Peace Treaty which created an international labor organization, the first session of which would be held in Washington, in October, 1919.

(3) Note on economic terms, declaring that 15,000,000 people in Germany were dependent on foreign trade and foreign raw materials, that Germany could not support more than 40,000,000 on her own resources, and that the terms of treaty would mean economic ruin and starvation.

(4) Note on territorial questions, admitting the principle of self-determination in certain instances, but objecting to the sacrifice of territory populated by Germans, and particularly against the Sarre Valley arrangement, the transfer of territory to Belgium, and the evacuation of part of Schleswig.

(5) Note on reparations, assenting to payment but not because of responsibility for the war.

(6) A note submitting a German plan for a league of nations, differing from the Allied plan chiefly in that it provided for the immediate inclusion of all belligerents. This plan was submitted to the Committee on a League of Nations, which found its merits sufficiently paralleled in the plan already incorporated in the Peace Treaty.

OPPOSITION TO TREATY IN GERMANY.-Following the announcement of peace terms, a week of mourning was officially decreed in Germany, the purpose of which was at least in part to lend support to the protests of the German delegates. President Ebert on May 11 declared the treaty a monstrous document" and that Germany's hopes of America had proved vain. Chancellor Scheidemann in the National Assembly on May 12 pronounced the terms "unacceptable," finding one hundred clauses beginning with "Germany renounces." The Independent Socialists, on the other hand, insisted that the terms should be accepted and peace declared, though their leader, Hugo Haase, refused to form a government to assume responsibility for signing the treaty.

TREATY VALID WHEN THREE ALLIED POWERS RATIFY.-Paris, May 16.— The German peace treaty, it developed to-day, contains a clause, which has not yet been made public, providing that ratification by Germany and three of the principal associated powers will bring the treaty in force between the ratifying parties, enabling the immediate resumption of trade.

It was pointed out in connection with this stipulation that any nation which withheld ratification after three of the principal powers had ratified would be at a disadvantage in a commercial way, from the fact that the ratifying powers would be able to resume trade relations with Germany at once, while the states which delayed would have no such privilege.N. Y. Times, 17/5.

FRENCH TO SUPPLY ARMY OF OCCUPATION.-Paris, May 8.-Neither the United States nor Great Britain will maintain any part of the armies of occupation which by the terms of the treaty will remain on the Rhine for at least 15 years. The occupation of the left bank of the Rhine will be effected by French and Belgian troops, the great majority, of course, being French. These two nations receive practically all of the indemnity for the collection of which allied troops are to be retained on German territory. It was not the wish of Marshal Foch and the French peace delegation that this arrangement be made.