Arizona republican., 1916-12-31
INSINCERE AND
 INEFFECTIVE SAYS
 REPLY OF ENTENTE
(Continued from Page One)


 intermediary of the United States, Spain, Switzerland and Holland.
 Before making any reply, the allied powers desire particularly to protest against the two essential assertions of the note of the enemy powers that pre- tend to throw upon the allies. respon- sibility for the war, and proclaim the victory of the central powers.
 The allied governments cannot ad- init an affirmation doubly inexact and which suffers to render sterile all ten tative negotiation. The allied nations have sustained for thirty months a wal they did everythine to avoid. They have shown by their acts, their at tachment to peace. That attachment is as strong today as it was in 1914. But 1t is not upon the word of Germany after the violation of engagements that the peace broken by her may be based
 "A mere suggestion, without a state ment of terms, that negotiations should be opened, is not an offer of peace. The putting forward by the imperial gov ernment of a sham proposal lacking al substance and precision would appear to be less an offer of peace than a war maneuver. It is founded on calculated misinterpretation of the character of the struggle in the past, the present and the future.
 AS for the past, the German note takes no account of the facts, dates
 and figures which establish that the
 war was desired provoked. and de- c''~Nd by Germany and Austria Hun
 gary.
 at The Hague conference it was German delegate who refused all pro- posals for disarmament. In July. 1914 l ft s,-,r e having addressed to Serbia an unpre- cedented ultimatum, declared war upon her in spite of the satisfaction which
 had been accorded at once.
 The central empires then rejected all attempts made by the entente to bring about a pacific solution of i purely local conflict Great Britain
 suggested a conference; France pro- 1 posed an international commission; the empire of Russia asked the German emperor to go to arbitration and Rus
 sia. and Austria Hungary came to an understanding on the eve of the con
 flict. But to all these efforts Germany | gave neither answer nor effect. Belgium was invaded by an empire which had guaranteed her neutrality and which had the assurance to pro claim that treaties were scraps of pa per and that necessity knows no law At the present moment these sham
 offers on the part of Germany rest on the war map of Europe alone. which l represents nothin more than a super ficial and passing phrase of the situa- ton and not the real strength of the bclligerents A peace concluded upon these terms would be only to the ad vantage of the aggressors who, aftel 1 imagining that they would reach theii ' diGPnNarp6 a af ! two years that they could never at 1 tain it.
 1 As for the future. the disasters caused by the German declaration ol war, and the innumerable outrages committed by Germany and her allies against both belligerents and neutrals demand penalties, reparation and guarantees Germany avoids mention
 Of any of these.
 Tn reality these overtures made hy 1 the central powers are nothing more 1 than calculated attempt to influ- ence the future course of war and to end it by imposing German peace 1 The object of these overtures is to i create dissensions in public opinion ] in the allied countries. But that pub l lie opinion has, in spite of all the SA~rifIces endured by the allies, all ready given its answer with admir- able firInness and has denounced the empty pretense of the declaration of the enemy powers.
 They have the further object of
 stiffening public opinion in Germany and in the countries allied 10 her one ard all severely tried by their | losses, won out by economic pressure ! and crushed by the supreme effort
 which has been imposed upon their l inhabitants.
 They endeavor to deceive and in timidate public opinion in neutral i countries, whose inhabitants have 1 long since made up their minds where
 the initial responsibility lies and are 1 far too enlightened to favor the de- signs of Germany by abandoning the defense of human freedom. 1 Finally these overtures attempt to 1 justify iu advance in the eyes of the world 2 series of crimes-submarine i warfare, deportations. forced labor and forced enlistment of the inhabi- i tants against their own countries and violations of neutrality
 l Fully conscious of the gravity of this moment, but equally conscious of l it's requirements, the allied govern | menrs.- closely united to one another and in perfect sympathy with their i peoples, refuse to consider a proposal
 which is empty and insincere. ] "Once again the allies declare that no peace is possible so long as they nave not secured reparation for vio-
 lated rights and liberties the recog-
 milton of the people of all nationali- 1 ties and of the free existence of small
 states; SO long as they have not 1 brought about settlement calculated l to end at once and for all forces 1 which hara constitute6 a narpotua I peace to the nations and to afford
 the only effective guarantee for the future security of the world Tn conclusion the allied powers
 think it necessary to put forward the ! following considerations, which show
 the special situation of Belgium after
 two and a half years of war Tn Virtue of the international treaties signed by five great European powers
 of whom Germany was one, Belgium
 enjoyed before the war a special
 status. rendering her territory inviol-
 able and placing her, under the guarantee of the powers. outside all European conflicts. She was. how
 ever. in spite of these treaties, the ! first to suffer the aggression of Ger
 many For this reason the Belgium government think it necessary to de- fine the aims which Belgium has
 never ceased to pursue while fighting
 side by side with the entente powers i for right and justice.
 Belgium always has scrupuously | fulfilled the duties which her neu-
 trality imposed upon her. She has
 taken up arms to defend her inde-
 penderce and her neutrality violated | by Germany and to show that she
 remains faithful to her international