New Britain herald., 1918-10-24
WIRELESS FLASHES WILSON'S ANSWER TO WORL REITERATES, NO ARMISTICE TILL ENEMY RETIRE BRITISH SMASHING WAY TO MAUBEUGE AND MOI
Wilson's Reply
 To Maxim:lian


 text of the note dispatched last night to Germany, through the Swiss em- bassy, follows:
 From the Secretary of State to the Charge d'Affaires ad interim in charge of German interests in the United States.
 "Department of State, Oct. 23, 1918. Sir
 II have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 22d transmitting a communication under date of the goth from the German government and to advise you that the President has ir structed me to reply thereto as follows:-
 Having received the solemn and explicit assurance of the German gov ernment that it unreservedly accepts the terms of peace laid down in his address to the Congress of the United States on the eighth of January, 1918, and the principles of settlement enunciated in his subsequent ad- dresses particularly the address of the 27th of September and that it desires to discuss the details of their app1ica- tion and that this wish and purpose emanated, not from those who have hitherto dictated German policy and conducted the present war on Ger manys behalf, but from ministers who speak for the majority of the reichstag and for an overwhelming majority of the German people; and having received also the explicit promise of the present German gov ernment that the humane rules of civilized warfare will be observed, both on land and sea, by the German armed forces, the President of the United States feels that he cannot de- cline to take up with the governments with which the government of the United States is associated the ques tion of d narmistice.
 He deems it his duty tc say again, however, that the only armistice he would feel justified in submitting for consideration would be one which should leave the United States and the powers associated with her in position to enforce any arrangements that may be entered into and to make a renewal of hostiities on the part of Germany impossible.
 "The President has, therefore, transmitted his correspondence with the present German authorities to the governments with which the govern ment of the United States is asso- ciated as a belligerent with the sug gestion that, if these governments are disposed to effect peace upon the terms and principles indicated their military advisers and the military ad- visers of the United States be asked to submit to the governments associated against Germany the necessary terms of such an armistice as will fully protect the interests of the peoples involved and ensure to the associated governments the unrestricted power to safeguard and enforce the details of the peace to which the German gov ernment has agreed, provided they deem such an armistce possible from the military point of view. Should such terms of armistice be suggested, their acceptance by Germany will afford the best concrete evidence of her unequivocal acceptance of the terms and principles of peace from which the whole action proceeds.
 '"The President would deem himself lacking in candor did he not point out in the frankest possible terms the reason why extraordinary safeguards must be demanded. Significant and important as the constitutional changes seem to be which are spoken
 
 his note of the twentieth of October, it does not appear that the principle of a government responsible to the German people has yet been fully worked out or that any guarantees either exist or are in contemplation that the alterations of principle and of practice now partially agreed upon will be permanent. Moreover, it does not appear that the heart of the present difficulty has been reached. It may be that future wars have been brought under the control of the Ger man people, but the present war has not been; and it is with the present war that we are dealing. It is evident that the German people have no means of commanding the acquies- cence of the military authorities of the empire in the popular will; that the power of the King of Prussia to control the policy of the empire is unimpaired; that the determining in itiatiye still remains with those who have hitherto been the masters Of Germany. Feeling that the whole peace of the world depends now on plain speaking and straightforward action the President deems it his duty to say, without any attempt to soften what may seem harsh words, that the nations of the world do not and cannot trust the word of those who have hitherto been the masters of German policy, and to point out once more that in concluding peace and attempting to undo the infinite injuries and injustices of this war, the