The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-27

side of the Danube, which she had received after the Balkan war, and agreed to a rectification of her west ern frontier. Economic concessions also were made under pressure from the Teutonic Alliance.
 Petce Tentatives.
 The period between December i, 1917 and March 1, 1918, may be called the period of peace tentatives. It is true that before the end of the sum- mer Pope Benedict made an appeal to the warning nations to enter into peace negotiations, the basis for pour parlers being the restoration of Bel gium and Serbia and the return to Germany of her lost colonies. This appeal, made on August 13, was an- swered by President Wilson on Au- gust 29 when the President announc- ed that the German government as constituted could not be believed and that the United States was ready to enter into negotiations when the Ger man people showed they desired peace and when they spoke through any au- thority which would be representative of them.
 The German answer to the Pope's appeal reached the Vatican on Sep tember 21. It expressed hope that further warfare could be averted through the good offices of the Pope, but declined to enter into any engage n-ent to meet what the Allies had de- clared to be their minimum war aims. Daa1o OAo,, German efforts to secure g. peace which would leave to Germany all the fruits of her victory gained through l Russia's collapse, and with Belgium and large portions of France to be used as pawns at the council table, be- gan with the address of Count Ger min, then Austrian foreign minister, al i Brest-Litovsk. on December 26. The keynote of the address was general peace without annexations and 'indem- mites.
 On January 8, President Wilson, ad- dressing Congress, said that the Unit ed States must know for whom the i German rulers were speaking. The address was a complement to an ad- dress made on January 5. by David Lloyd George, the British Premier. To these addresses reply was made by Imperial Chancellor von Hertling of Germany, and Count Czernin. The latter was pacific and conciliatory ir tone, while the former, alluding tc ''the good German sword" showed he was speaking for the militarists of the Germanic powers.
 -Four Principles" Enunciated. l To these replies there was rejoin. der by President Wilson, who, on Feb ruary Il, again addressing Congress laid down what have come to be known as the -Four Principles" upor which peace can be based. Briefly these principles were:
 i Final settlement must be based or essential justice.
 Peoples and provinces are not to bt bartered about like chattels.
 Every territorial settlement must bt for the benefit and in the interest o. the populations concerned.
 All we'll l-defined national aspiration: shall be met with the utmost satisfac tion consistent with the future peace
 Pope Benedict, in a pastoral letter issued at Easter, made another appea for concord among the peoples of tht world, but it brought forth no tangi ble results. At the Pope's behest prayers for peace were offered 1T Catholic churches throughout the world on St. Peters day, June 2S.
 In April there came revelations from Paris that Emperor Charles of Aus tria had written letters to Prince Six tus of Bourbon, relative. In these communications the Austrian monarch conceded the claim of France to Alsac' and Lorraine and hinted that peace overtures would be welcomed. A the result of this, Count Czernin. thu Austrian Foreign Minister was re moved from office.
 The most recent addresses on thu subject of peace have been delivered in the German Reichstag, one by pr !, Richard von Kuehlmann, the foreig1 Minister; and the other by Imperia Chancellor von Hertling. The for mer's sensational admission that thu sword by itself could not bring peac, resulted in his resignation, and vol Hertlings address voiced the senti
 ment that as long as the Allies wer intent upon destroying Germany" tn war must go on.
 : The Enemy Offensives. Last winter it became known tha
 the Germans were massing forces ol the Western front. Reports cam , that large units were training behin' the lines and that new and more ter rible engines of war than had beer
 known before were to be used in Ger man effort to break the Allied lines l crush their armies and force them t
 make peace. The drive was we'll ad } vertsed and even the place where l was to be launched was known witt comparative certainty.
 On the morning of March 21, tn Germans began their attack from tn vicinity of Arras, on the north, to L.
 Fere, on the south, and centering thei
 heaviest columns against the Britisl , forces, under General Cough, at St Quentin.
 Staggering before the impact of tn l blow, the British army fell back rap idly. For eight days the German . poured through the old Allied line il l. an effort to crush the British an,
 drive a wedge between them and tn
 French, who were holding the line
 to the south. Then came a perio
 of reaction and the Germans came to
 stop. They had driven ahead fo
 thirty-five miles along a front extend
 ing more than fifty miles before the
 were halted.
 , Hardly had their 1egions heen hell
 before Amiens than a new offensiv
 was begun in Flanders, on April ?. I swept the British back through Ar