The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-19

| Premier Clemenceau responded as fol- lows;
 l You would not expect me to keep silence after what the two eminent states | men who have just spoken have said cannot help expressing my great, my :, profound gratitude to the illustrous
 President of the United States, to the prime minister of Great Britain and to
 Baron Sonnino for the words l have just heard from their lips. Long ago, when I was young, as MT. | Lloyd George has recalled to you, when
 I was travelling in America and in Eng Nnd l always heard the French re- preached for an excess of courtesy. which sometimes went beyond the truth. As 1 listened to the American statesman and to the English statesman, I wondered whether they had not caught in Paris our national disease of courtesy. Never ] theless, gentlemen, I must say that my election is necessarily due to the old in ternational tradition of courtesy to the country which has the honor to receive 1 the peace conference in it's capital. "I wish also to say that this testimony of friendship, if they will allow me the word, on the part of President Wilson and MT. Lloyd George in particular, has touched me deeply, because I see in it | rev strength for all three of us to ac- complish, with the cooperation of the entire conference, the arduous work which is entrusted to us. I gather from l it a new confidence in the success of our efforts.
 President Wilson has special authority 1 to say that this is the first time in fact bled together delegation of all the civilized nations of the earth MUST HAVE PREPARATION
  ! which has devastated and ruined one of the richest parts of France, the greater and more splendid must be the repara- tion-not only the material reparation. the vulgar reparation, if 1 dare speak so, which is due all of us but the higher and nobler reparation of the new insti- tuition which we will try to establish in order that nations may at length es- cape from the fatal embrace of ruinous wars, which destroy everything. heap up ruins, terrorize the populace and pre- vent them from going freely about their work for fear of enemies which may arise up from one day to the next. Ut is a great, splendid and noble ambition which has come 10 all of us. It is desirable that success should crown our efforts. This cannot take place un- less we all have firmly fixed and clearly determined ideas on what we wish to do.
 
 and I wish to repeat here, that success is not possible unless we remain firmly united. We have come together as friends: we must leave this hall as friends.
 That, gentlemen, is the first though6 that comes to me. All else must be sub ordinated to the necessity of closer
 and closer union among the nations who
 have taken part in this great war and to
 the necessity of remaining friends For
 the league of nations is here It Is
 yourself It is fo! you to make it live,
 and to make it live we must have 1t
 -ealiy in cn hear
 ''As l told President Wilson few days
 ago, there is no sacrifice that l am not
 willing to make in order to accomplish
 this, ard do not doubt that you all have the same sentiment. We will make these
 sacrifices but on the condition that we
 en.eavor impartially to conciliate inter
 ests apparently cont adictory, on the
 higher plane of q greater. happier and
 better humanity
 That. gentlemen, is what had to say
 to you. l am touched beyond words at