Connecticut western news., 1918-01-10

the acid test c4 their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own intereats and of their intelligent and unsel.ish sympathy.
 "7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored without any attempt to limit the sov- ereignty which she enjoys in common with all ether free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence ar1o7g the na- tions in the lawa which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of in- ternationaI law is forever impaired.
 "8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions re- stored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.
 "9. 4 readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clear ly recognizable lines of nationality.
 "1o. The peoples of Austria-Hun- gary, whose place among the nations We wish to see sareguarded and as- sured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous develop ment.
 "11. Roumania, Serbia and Monte negro should be evacuated, occupied territories restored, Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically es- tabIished lines of allegiance and na- tlonality; and international guarantees of the political and economic inde- peEdcnce and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.
 "12. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of lie and an absolutely unmoIested opportunity Of autonomous development, and the DardaneIIes should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under ln- ternationaI guarantees.
 "13. An independent Polish state should be erected which should in- cIude the territories inhabited by ia- disputabIy Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and terri toriaI integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.
 "14. 4 general association of na- tlons must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affordlng mutual guarantees of political inde- pendsnce and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
 Allies Firmly United.
 In regard to these essential rectih- cations of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments und peoples associated together against the imperialists. We cannot be separated in interest or divided In purpose. We stand together until the end.
 For such arrangements and cove nants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire just and stable peace such as can be se- cured only by removing the chief prov 0cations to war. which this program does remove.
 "We have no jealousy of Germany's greatness, and there is nothing in this program that impairs if. We be- grudge her no achievement or distinc- ton of learning or of pacific enter prise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We Gu not wish to lnjure her or to block m any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her, either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade, if she Is will ing to associate herself with us and the other peace loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law anu fair dealing.
 Offers Germany Equal Peace.
 We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world in which we now live-instead of a place of mastery.
 Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alternative of modification of her institutions. But 1t is necessary we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any inteuigent deal- ings with her on our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imDerial domination.