The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-10-22
TEXT OF THE
GERMAN NOTE

London, Oct 2i-The text of the
German note as received by wireless,
is as follows:
in accepting the proposal for an
evacuation of occupied territories, the
German government has started from
the assumption that the procedure OF
this evacuation and of the conditions
of an armistice should be left to the
judgment of the military advisers and
that the actual standard of power on
hoth sides insthe field LAS 10 form the
basis for arrangements safeguarding
and guaranteeing this standard.
The German government suggests to
the President that an opportunity
should be brought about for fixing
the details 1t trusts that the Presi-
dent of the United States will approve
of no demand which would be ire
conciliabfe With the honor of the Ger
man people and with opening way
to peace of justice.
The German government protests
against the repreach of illegal and in
humane actions made against the Ger
man land and sea forces and thereby
against the German people. For the
covering of retreat distractions will
always be necessary and they are car
ried out in so far as is permitted by
international law The German troops
are under most strict Instructions TO
spare private property and exercise
care for the population to the best of
their ability. Where transgressions
occur in spite of these Instructions the
guilty are being punished.
The German government further
denies that the German navy in sink
ing ships has ever purposely destroyed
lifeboats with their passengers. The
German government proposes With re-
gard to all those charges that the
facts be cleared up by neutral COM
missions In order to avoid anything
that might hamper the work of peace.
the German government has caused
orders to be dispatched to all subma-
rine commanders sprecluding the tor
pedoing of passenger ships without,
however, for technical reasons, be-
ing able to guarantee that these or
ders will reach every single subma-
rine at sea before its return
AS a fundamental condition for peace
the President prescrbes the destrue-
ton of every arbitrary power that can
separately. secretly and of it's own
single choice disturb the peace of the
world. To this the German govern
ment replies: Hitherto. the represen-
tation of the people in the German
empire has not been endowed with an
influence on the formation of the gov
ernment. The constitution did not
provide for concurrence of repre-
sentation of the people in decisions of
peace and war. These conditions have
Just now undergone fundamental
change. new government has been
formed in complete accordance With
the wishes of the representation of the
people based on equal universal Sc
cret direct franchise.
The leaders of the great parties OF
the reichstag are members of this
government. In the future no govern
ment can take or continue in office
without possessing the confidence of
the majority of the reichstag
The responsibility of the chancellor
of the empire to the representation to
the people is being legally developed
and safeguarded. Tile first act of the
new government has been to lay be-
fore the reichstag a bill to alter the
constitution Of the empire SO that the
consent of The representation of the
people is required for decisions on war
and peace.
The permanence Of the new system
is however. guaranteed not only by
constitutional safeguards. but also by
the unshakeable determination of the
stands behind these reforms and de-
German people whose vast majority
Z r.