The sun., 1917-01-13
TEUTON EMPIRE
SPLIT is AIM
Entente's Note Explained at
the Foreign Office in
Paris.
SPECIAL Cable Despatch TO The Sun

SPECIAL Cable Despatch to The Sun.
PARIS, Jan. 12.-When the American
correspondents we're received at the
Foreign Office to hear the terms of the
Allies reply to President Wilson's note,
high official discussed the contents
! with them and replied to their queries.
one of their first questions was as to
what could be deduced from the Ian
suage OF the note. The reply was to
draw attention to the use of the words
in the note. reorganization of Europe"
| and German peoples" in the plural. not
! people" in the singular. with especial
! emphasis on the inclusion of the CZechs
and Slavonians among the peoples to be
! liberated from foreign domination.
/ II was pointed out that the war had
| changed the question OF the restitution Of
| Alsace-Lorraine in that the domination
! Prussia had exercised over central Eu-
rope had proved so supreme that any
! return to the status quo, even with the
restitution of Alsace-Lorraine. would not
prove a permanent settlement. Any So
| luton leaving Germany with her allies
| as bloc in central Europe would only
| mean a renewal Of the war at some later
| date.
OmissiOn of COnstantinOple.
, A correspondent pointed out that the
note demanded the expulsion of the OF
toman Empire from Europe. but said
nothing about Constantnople becoming
Russian; also that it did not deal with
| the question of the German colonies
Furthermore, that Great Britain and
Japan. especially the latter. hardly fig
ure specifically in II.
The answer was that this resulted from
the nature of the note. which could not
cover everything.
The reply of Belgium appears to be en-
tirely independent, as it differs from the
Allies answer in its reference to the
assimilation established in President
Wilson'S note between the two groups of
belligerents. The Allies take exception
to any such assimilation being consid.
cred possible or being produced in dis
cussion even as hypothetical basis fol
argument. but their note carefully states
that the assimilation was based upon the
public declarations of the Central Pow
ers and expressly states their belief tha
President Wilson in mentioning 1t GER
tainly did not mean to indorse it.
. The Belgian note on the other hand
attributes belief in such assimilation tt
the President.
\ solemn Oath.
The French press comments recognize
that the note Is, as Jean Herbute says
in the Echo de PdsiS. "a solemn oatf
taken by the Allies. binding them a:
much as the London agreement oounc
the signatories against separate
peace"
Alsace- Lorraine naturally gets frs
place in the comment. The Mdtm lay'
, stress upon the fact that II is the frs
time the restitution of the lost province!
, has been stipulated as an ineXorabl'
, condition of peace, not in a declaration
by a single Government. but in Europe
, future charter. signed and approved b!
the Powers of tho Entente.
, The GaulOis says that now II is Ger
many's turn to speak. 1T depends en-
tirely on our adversaries," says tn
paper, whether the meeting around tn
, table shall be held tomorrow, in si'
, months or in "A year. The Entente repl!
= closes no door. 1t brings into the debat
, the clearness which President Wilson
requested. debate darkened by Ger
many's silence and equivocatlon and lac
2 OF precision
> Our aims in tho war thus defined,
| says the Temps in leader on the En-
tente reply to President Wilson, 'impl
the liberation of Europe, and of German
= herself, from the Prussian yoke.
, when that shall have been accom-
. plished we may talk of peace. The
a indeed, and then only. will be possihl
the organization in Europe that the Sc
a cialist parties OF all the allied countrie
are not alone desiring. but which wa
a not to be realized so long as in centra
Europe there arose a power erected o
, the violation of national liberty and II
. tent upon other anneXations in the IL
| ture.
THE Entente governments haV
~ touched the key to the problem. 1t re
mains for them to solve 1t by arm
, utilizing fully their resources and CO
I. ordinating effectively their efforts"
- 1--WE have spoken for the world" say
the Petit Pdrisien, for the Entente pee
pies, for their adversaries and also fo
neutrals. President Wilson, whose nm
sense of justice is known, cannot fall
= be struck by the truthfulness of the docr
'. ment, by our eagerness to meet his view
'a and by the proofs we have accumulate
= of Germanic violence
Gustave nerves Socialist newspap,
-" La VictOirG says:
n "Do the American people find o,
A. cause holy--that 1t is a war of liberatiC
,o we are sustaining? Then what are the
"a waiting for to take up arms and mare
4 to the aid of right. civilization al
* humanity"