Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-22
TEUTONS ACCEPT :
PONTIFF'S PEACE
PLAN GENERALLY
Kaiser Voices Desire That
Appeal to End War May
Meet With Success
Bv Associated Press

Amsterdam, Sept. 22.-The Ger
man reply to Pope Benedicts peace
proposal declares special measures
taken by the government in closest
contact with the representatives of
the German people to discuss an
swering the question raised proves
how earnestly 1t desires to find a
practical basis for just and lasting
peace.
Continuing, the reply says that
Germany fully recognized with his
Holiness the high peace producing
effect of arbitration to decide inter-
national differences of opinion and
in this respect Germany is ready to
support every proposal compatible
with the vital interests of the Ger
man empire and people.
The German reply says that the
imperial government greets with
sympathy the leading idea h which
his Holiness clearly expresses the
conviction that the future material
power of arms must be superseded
by the moral power of right.
The German Note
The text of the German note to
Car dinal Gasparri, papal secretary of
state, replying to the popes peace
proposals, was received here. 1t fol-
lows:
Herr Cardinal: Your Eminence
has been good enough, together with
your letter of August 2. to transmit
to the kaiser and king, my most
gracious master, the note of his Holi-
ness the Pope, in which his Holiness.
filed with grief at the devastations
of the world war, makes an emphatic
peace appeal to the heads of the
lelligerent peoples. The kaiser-king
has deigned to acquaint me with your
Eminence's letter and to entrust the
reply to me.
His Majesty has been following
Tor a considerable time with high re-
spect and sincere gratitude his Holi-
ness efforts in a spirit of true i'm
Iartiality to alleviate as far as pos
sible the sufferings of the war and to
hasten the end of hostilties. The
aiser sees in the latest step of his
Holiness fresh proof of his noble and
humane feelings, and cherishes a
lively desire that, for the benefit of
the entire world the papal appeal
may meet with success"
The Austrian Note
The text of the reply of the Aus
trian emperor to the pope's peace
proposals was handed to Mgr. T..
Nafre di Bonzu, the papal nuncio at
Vienna. The text of the reply as re-
ceived here follows:
Holy Father: With due vene-
ration and deep emotion we take
cogni2ance of the new representa-
tions your Holiness. in fulfillment of
the holy office intrusted to you by
God, makes to us and the heads Of
the other belligerent states with the
noble intention of leading the heavily
tried nations to unity that will re-
store peace to them.
With a thankful heart we re-
ceived this fresh gift of fatherly care
which you, Holy Father, always be-
stow on all peoples without distinc-
ton. and from the depth of our
heart we greet the moving eXhorta-
ton which your Holiness has ad-
dressed to the governments of the
belligerent peoples. During this cruel
war we have always looked up to
your Holiness as to the highest per-
Sonage, who, in virtue of his mission,
which reaches beyond earthly things,
and thanks to the high conception
of his duties laid upon him, stands
high above the belligerent peoples
and inaccessible to all influence, is
able to find way which may lead to
the realization of our own desire for
peace lasting and honorable for all
parties.
IF. as we most heartily desire,
agreements should be arrived at be-
tween the belligcrents which would
realize this sublime idea and thereby
give security to the Austro- Hungarian
monarchy for its unhampered future
development, it can then not be diff
ticult to find a satisfactory solution
of the other questions which still
remain to be settled between the
belliEerents. in a spirit of justice and
of a reasonable consideration of the
conditions for existence of both
parties.
IF the nations of the earth were
to enter, with a desire for peace, into
negotiations with one another in the
sense of your Holiness proposals,
then peace could blossom forth from
them. The nations could attain COM
plete freedom of movement on the
high seas. heavy material burdens
could be taken from them and new
sources of prosperity opened to them.
Guided by a spirit of moderation
and conciliation. we see in the pro-
posals of your Holiness n suitable
basis for initiating negotiations with
view to preparing a peace just to
all and lasting, and we earnestly hope
our present enemies may be animated
by the same ideas. In this spirit we
beg that the Almighty may bless the
work of peace begun by your Holi-
ness"