Norwich bulletin., 1918-09-16
AUSTRIA PROPOSES
 APEACECONFERENCE'
Calls For All Begerent Nations to Send Delegates to Some Neutral Country at Near Date For Confidential Un- binding Discussion of the Basic Principles For the Con- clusion of Peace.'

unbinding discussion at q neutral meeting place, and has addressed to them a note drawn up in this sense.
 This step has been brought to the knowledge of the Holy See ill a spe- cial note. and an appeal thereby made to the pope's interest in peace. Fur thermore, the governments of the neu- tral states have been acquainted with the step taken.
 "The constant close accord which exists between the four allied pow CTS warrants the assumption that the allies of Austria Hungary, to whom the proposal is being sent in the same manner, share the views deve-oped in the note"
 The official telegram proceeds to say that the note has been drawn up in French and runs as follows:
 The peace offer which the powers of the quadruple alliance addressed to their opponents on Dec. F, 1916, and the conciliatory basic ideas of which they have never given up, signifies, despite the rejection which it experi- enced, an important stage in the his tory of this war In contrast to the first two and a half war years, the question of peace has from that mo- ment been the center of European, aye, of world discussion, and domi- mates it in ever-increasing measure.
 Almost all the beGgerent states have in turn again and again express ed themselves on the question of peace, its prerequisites and conditions. This line of development of this discussion, however, has not been uniform and steady. The basic standpoint changed under the influence of the military and political position. and hitherto. at any rate, it has not led to a tangible gen eral result that could be utilized. Tt is true that, independent of all these oscillations, it can be stated that | the distance between the conceptions of the two sides has, on the whole, grown somewhat less; that despite the indisputable continuance of decided and hitherto unbridged differences, a partial turning from many of the most extreme concrete war aims is
 visible and certain agreement upon | the relative general basic principles of a world peace manifests itself. In
 both camps there is undoubtedly ob- l seryable in wide classes of the popu-
 lation a growth of the will to peace
 and understanding. Moreover, a com
 parison of the reception of the peace proposal of the powers Of the quardu pie alliance on the part of their oppo- | nents with the later utterances of re- | spOnsiole Statesmen of the latter as
 well as of the non-responsible but, in
 2 political respect nowise uninfiuential personalities, confirms this impression
 While, for example, the reply of the allies to President Wilson made demands which amounted to the dis memberment of Austria Hungary, to 8 | diminution and, a deep internal trans
 formation of the German empire, ant the destruction of Turkish European ownership, these demands, the realiza.
 tion of which was based on the sup. position of an overwhelming victory
 were later modified in many declara
 tions from official entente quarters. o
 in part were dropped.
 Thus. in declaration made in thu
 British house of commons a year ago
 Secretary Balfour expressly recognized
 that Austria Hungary must itself solv
 it's internal problems. and that no on,
 could impose a constitution upon Ger
 many from the outside Premier Lloyt
 George declared at the beginning o
 this year that it was not one of tn,
 allies war aims to partition Austria
 Hungary, to rob the Ottoman empir
 of it's Turkish provinces, or to reform
 Germany internally. It may also b
 considered symptomatic that in De ] l. I.
 repudiated the assumption that Britisl
 policy had ever engaged itself for tn
 creation of an independent state ou
 of the territories on the left bank o
 the Rhine.
 The central powers leave it in n doubt that they are only waSing
 war of defense for the integrity an,
 the security of their territories. , Far more outspoken than in the do main of concrete war arms has tn
 rapprochement of conceptions pro { ceeded regarding those guiding line 7 upon the basis of which peace shall b l concluded and the future order c Europe and the world built up. | { this direction President Wilson in hi speeches of Feb. 12 and July 4 of thi 3 year has formulated principles whic 2 have not encountered contradiction O D the part of his allies and the far l reaching application of which is like l ly to meet with no objection on tn part of the powers of the quadrupl - alliance also, pre-supposing that thi p application is general and reconcilia . ble with the vital interests of tn e states concerned.
 2 Tt is true it must be remembere t that an agreement on general princi { pies is insufficient, but that there re a mains the further mattgr of reachin l an accord upon their interpretatio
 and their application to individual con e crete war and peace questions. 1 To an unprejudiced observer theI - can be no doubt that in all the bellie 0 erent states, without exception, the de }, sire for peace of understandings ha . been enormously strengthened: thf . the conviction is increasingly snreai a ing that the further continuance ( h the bloody struggle must transfor, . Europe into ruins and into a state ( s exhaustion that will mar it's develor = ment for decades to come, and tn without any guarantee of thereh f bringing about that decision by arn - which has been vainly striyen aft,
 by both sides in four years filled vii e enormous sacrifices, sufferings and e2 c ertions.
 g Tn what manner, however. can Il . way be paved for an understandin ] and an understanding finally attained - Is there any serious prospect what ], ever of reaching this aim by contin1 . ing the discussion of the neal e problem in the way hitherto followed f We have not the courage to answ, f the latter question, in the affirmativ t The discussion from one public tribur = to another, as has hitherto taken plat
 between statesmen of the variol t countries, was really only a series O monologues. It lacked, above ever, } thing, directness. Spaech and counteI t speech did not fit into each other. IT speakers spoke over one another 8 heads.
 t "On the other hand was the publi, - ity and the. ground of these discu r sions, winch robbed them of the DO,