Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-08

pcntcnt declarations of the German
peace delegates, as thus brought out,
gave rise to murmur of indignation
in the chamber.
Address by Cleinenceau
Addressing the Germans as Gentle
men. plcnipotentiaries of the German
empire Premier Clemenccau, in the
course of his address. said
"You have asked for peace. We arc
ready to give you pence. We shall
present TO you now book which con
tains our conditions. You will be given
every facility to examine these condi-
tions and the time necessary for it.
Everything will be done with the
courtesy that is the privilege of civilized
nations.
ITO give you my thought, completely,
YOU will find us ready TO give you any
explanation you want. but we must say
at the same time that this second treaty
Of Versailles has cost us too much not
TO take on our side all the necessary
precautions and guarantees that the
peace shall be lasting one.
II will give you notice of the pro-
ccdurc that has been adopted by the
conference for discussion, and il any
ono has any observations to offer he
will have the right to do SO. No oral
discussion is to take place, and the OBJ
scrvations of the German delegation will
have to be submitted in writing.
"The German plcnipotentiaries will
.hn, havo thp p1a ip1tt tt,,
period of fifteen days within which to
present in English and French their
written observations on the whole of
tho treaty. Before the expiration of
the aforesaid period of fifteen days the
German delegates will be entitled to
send their reply or particular head e
ings of the treaty or TO ask questions
in regard to them.
"Aftcr having examined the observa
tions presented within the aforemen
toned period. the Supreme Council will
send its answer in writing to the Ger
man delegation and determine the period
within which the final global (world
widc) answer must be given by this
delegation.
"Thc president (Clemenccau) wishes
TO add that when we receive. after two
or three or four or five days, any OBJ
scryations from the German delegation
on any point of the treaty, we shall not
wait until the end of the fifteen days
TO give our answer. We shall at once
proceed in the way indicated by this
document.
Germans Deny Entire Blame
Count Won Brockdorff Rantzau, head
Of the German delegation, speaking in
German. said:
"Gentlemen We are deeply i'm
pressed with the sublime task which has
brought us hither to give a durable
peace to the world. We are under nc
illusion as to the extent of our defeat
and the degree of our want of power,
We know that the power Of the German
army is broken. We know the power
of the hatred which we encounter here
and we have heard the passionate de-
mand that the vanquishers may make
us pay as the vanquished and shal
punish those who are worthy of being
punished.
ut is demanded from us that we sfal
confess ourselves to be the only one.
guilty of the war. Such a confession II
my mouth would be a lie. We are fa'
from declining any responsibility tina
| this great war of the world has com,
to pass and that it was made in th'
way i'm which it was made. The atti
tude Of the former German Government
at The Hague Peace Conference. il
actions and omissions i'm the tragi
twelve days of July. have certainly con
X..,I. tnI a., h., p,.f
getically deny that Germany and ii
people. who were convinced that the!
were making war of defense, wer
alone guilty.
EurOpe's States Poisoned
Nobody will want to contend tha
the disaster took its course only in th
disastrous moment when the successo
to the throne of Austria Hungary fel
the victim of murderous hands. In tn
last fifty years the imperialism of al
the European states has chronicall
poisoned the international situation
The policy of retaliation and the polio
of expansion and the disregard of tn
rights of peoples to determine their ow
destiny have contributed to the Hines
Of Europe, which saw its crisis in tn
world war.
Russian mobilization took from N
statesmen the possibility of healing an
gave the decision into the hands c
the military powers. Public opinion i
all the countries of our adversaries
resounding with the crimes which Gel
many is said to have committed in tn
war. Here also we are ready to con
fess wrongs that may have been done.
1--WE have not come here to belittl
the responsibility of the men who hav
wagcd the war politically and cconom
ically or to deny any crimes which ma
have been committed against the right
of peoples. We repeat the declaratio
which has been made in the Germa
Reichstag at the beginning of the wal
that is to say Wrong has been don
to Belgium and we are willing t
repair it.
Puts Blame OH Others
"But in the manner of making wa
also Germany is not the only guilt
one.
Every nation knows of deeds an
of people which the best nationals onl
; remember with regret. I do not wal
to answer by reproaches to reproache
but ask them to remember, when rep
aration is demanded, not to forget ii
armistice. 1t took you six weeks unit
e we got it at last, aud six more UT
til we came to know your conditions
peace.
Grimes in war may not be excu!
= able, but they are committed in Il
d. THAC MANI NITIC