The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-09-22

dressed to Cardinal Gasparri, papal
secretary of state.
lows:
"Holy Father: With due veneration
and deep emotion we take cognizance
of the new representations which your
Holiness, in fulf1llment of the holy Of
flee intrusted to you by God, makes to
us and the heads of the other bellig-
erent states, with the noble intention
of leading the heavily tried nations to
a unity that will restore peace to
them.
with a thankful heart we receive
this fresh gift of fatherly care which
you, Holy Father, always bestow on
all peoples without distinction, and
from the depth of our heart we greet
the moving exhortation which your
Holiness has addressed to the govern
ments of the belligerent peoples.
During this cruel war we have al
ways looked up to your Holiness as
to the highest parsonage, who, in vir-
tue of his mission, which reaches be.
yond earthly things. and thanks to the
high conception Of his duties laid upon
him, stands high above the belligerent
influence, was able to find way which
may lead to the. realization of our own
desire for peace, lasting and honorable
for all parties.
"Since ascending the throne of our
ancestors, and fully conscious of the
responsibility which we bear before
God and men for the fate of the Aus
tro-Hungarian Monarchy, we have
never lost sight of the high aim of re-
storing to our peoples, as speedily as
possible the blessings of peace. Soon
after our accession to the throne it was
vouchsafed to us, in common with our
allies, to undertake a step which had
been considered and prepared by our
exalted predecessor, Francis Joseph,
to pave the way for a. lasting and
honorable peace.
eve gave expression to this desire
in a speech from the Throne deliver
ed at the opening of the Austrian
Reichstag, thereby showing that we
are striving after a peace that shall
free the future life of the nation from
rancor and a thirst for revenge, and
that shall secure them for generations
to come from the employment of arm
ed forces. Our joint government has
in the meantime failed in repeated and
emphatic declarations, which could be
heard by all the world, to give eX-
preston to our own will and that Of
the Austro-Hungarian peoples to pre-
pare an end to bloodshed by a peace
such as your Holiness has in mind.
Happy in the thought that our de-
sires from the first were directed to-
ward the same object which your
Holiness today characterizes as. one
we should strive for, we have taken
into close consideration the concrete
and practical suggestions of your Holt
ness and have come to the following
| conclusions:
with deep-rooted conviction We
agree to the leading idea of your
| Holiness that the future arrangement
! of the world must be based on the
! elimination Of armed forces and on
| the moral force of right and on the
rule of international Justice and legal
| ity.
1--WE, too, are imbued with the hope
| that a strengthening of the sense of
| right would morally regenerate hui
mainly. We support, therefore, your
! Holiness view that the negotiations
| between the belligerents should and
could lead to, an understanding by
which, with the creation of .appro-
pirate guarantees ornaments on land
and sea and in the air might be reduc-
ed simultaneously, reciprocally and
! gradually to a fixed limit, and where
| by the high seas, which rightly belong
| to all the nations of the earth, may be
| freed from domination or para
mountcy, and be opened equally for
| the use of all.
Fully conscious of the importance
| of the promotion of peace on the
| 9th NV Hn1inoSC
| namely, to submit international dis
putes to compulsory arbitration, we
are also prepared to enter into nego-
tiations regarding this proposal.