The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-01-05
PROTEST AGAINST ENEMY'S AS
SERTION ATTEMPTING TO
THROW ON ENTENTE RE-
SPoNSIBILITY FOR WAR.
DECLARE PROPOSITION IS
LIKE MANEUVER OF WAR
Official Text Asserts Proposal Was
Made in Order to Seek to intimi-
date NeutraIs-Affirms Peace
Is Impossible Until Re-
paration Is Made.

Paris, Jan. 1-Germany' peace pro-
posal has been refused by the Allies.
In a collective note branding the
proffer of the Central Powers as empty
and insincere, the Allied governments
insist that no peace is possible so long
as they have not secured reparation for
violated rights and liberties. They
reiterate the objects they are fighting
for, namely, the free existence of small
states and maintain that any settle
ment must provide for the future Sc
curity of the entire world.
The proposal of the Central Powers
is termed not an offer of peace but a
'.manoeuvre of war" 1t is declared to
be founded on calculated misrepresen-
tation of the character of the struggle
In the past, the present and the fu-
ture." -s I'D
Outlines BeIgium's War Aims.
The note does not specifically outline
the war aims of any of the Allied gov
ernments except Belgium. Before the
war, it is pointed out, Belgium asked
for nothing but to live in harmony
with her neighbors. Assailed in spite
of the treaties guaranteeing her in
volatility, Belgium, the note, has TAX
en- up arms to defend her independence
and "her neutrality violated by Ger
many"
Note Delivered to Sharpe.
The note was handed to U. S. Ambas-
sador Sharpe by Premier BRAND in
Paris to be transmitted by the Unit
ed States to the Central Powers.
The note says: THE Allied govern
ments of Belgium, France, Great Brit
ain, Italy, Japan, Montenegro, Portu-
gal, Roumania, Russia and Serbia, unit
ed for the defense of the liberty of
their peoples and faithful to engage
ments taken not to lay down tfeir
arms separately have resolved to reply
collectively to pretended propositions
of peace which were addressed to them
on behalf of enemy governments
through the intermediary of the Unit
ed States, Spain, Switzerland and Hol-
land.
Wished to Avoid War.
Before making any reply to the AL
lied Powers desire particularly to pro-
test against the two essential aSSer-
tions of the note of the enemy powers
that pretend to throw upon the Allies
responsibility for the war and pro-
claim the victory of the Central Pow
ers.
1.-The Allied governments cannot ad
NIT an affirmation doubly inexact and
which suffices to render sterile all ten
tative negotiations.
''The Allied nations have sustained
for thirty months war they did every
thing to avoid. They have shown by
their acts their attachment to peace.
That attachment is as strong today as
1T was in 1914. But it Is not upon the
word of Germany, after the violation
of her engagements, that the peace
broken by her may be based.
Not an Offer of Peace.
"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 Government of sham propo-
sal lacking all substance and precision
would appear to be less an offer of
peace than a maneuver of war. 1t is
founded on calculated misinterpreta-
tion of the character of the struggle
in the past, the present and the flu
ture.
LAS 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-
clared by Germany and Austria Hun
gary.
Refused Disarmament Plan.
AT the Hague conference it was
German delegate who refused all pro-
posals for disarmament. In July, 1914.
it was Austro Hungary, who, after hay-
ing addressed to Serbia an unprece-
denied ultimatum declared war upon
her in spite of the satisfaction which
had at once been accorded.
THE Central Empires then rejected
all attempts made by the entente to
bring about a pacific solution of a
purely local conflict
Great Britain suggested a confer
ence; France proposed an international
commission; the Emperor of Russia
asked the German emperor to go to
arbitration and Russia and Austria
Hungary came to an understanding on
the eve of the conflict. But to all these
efforts Germany gave neither answer
nor acknowledgment.
Belgium Invaded by Empire.
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
represents nothing more than a super
f1cial and passing phase of the situa-
ton and not the real strength CT the.
belligerents. -. - - 20. A1'
"A peace concluded upon these terms
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