The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-05-10
The Opening Session Was Brief
and Business Like in The
Extreme
CLEMENCEAU SAYS NO
PLACE FOR WORDS
|Count Won Brockdorf Admits
Germany's Complete Defeat
And Acknowledges That Pow
er is Broken.

er is Broken.
Versailles, May (Ha1 SIN op-
ening the session of the peace con-
gress, NJ. Clemenceau, the presiding
officer. speaking to the German pleni-
! potentiaries said:
1T is unnecessary to express need
! less words You have before you the
! |plenipotentiaries Of the small and
great powers united IN this moss
cruel. war, which was imposed upon
them. The hour has arrived for
heavy settlement of the account"
Paul Dutast, secretary general OF
the peace conference, delivered
copy Of the treaty to Count vor
/ Brooke dorff- head of the Ger
man delegation who made brief re-
ply:
! Count Won Brockdorff- -Rantzau said:
''We declare that we do not deny
the extent Of our defeat. We know
the power of the German armies is
broken"
He was unable to admit that Ger
many was solely culpable, and de-
manded that the allies make peace,
according to President Wilson's points.
Germany pledged itself to repair
the wrong done to Belgium and gave
assurance of the reconstruction OF
the territories in northern France.
Count Won Brockdorf-F Fantzal
asked for the liberation Of German
prisoners and said that Germany
adopted the league Of nations
Following is the address Of N.
Clemenceau to the German delegates
at the peace congress today:
Gentlemen, Plenipotentiaries Of
the German Empire:
"It is neither the time nor the
place for superflous words. You have
before yod the accredited plenipoten-
tiaries Of all the small and great
powers united to fight together in the
war that has been so cruelty imposed
on them. The time has come when
we must settle our accounts.
! You have asked for peace. We are
ready to give you peace. We shall
present to you now a book which con-
tains our conditions. You will be
given every facility to examine these
conditions, and the time necessary for
it. Everything will be done with the
courtesy that is the privilege OF civil
lied nations.
ITO give you my thought complete
ly. 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 ourselves
the necessary precautions and guar
jantees that the peace shall be a last
ing one.
Il will give you notice Of the proce-
dure that has been adopted by the
conference for discussion and ii any
one has any observations to offer he
will have the right to do so. No oral
discussion is to take place and the
! observations OF the German delega-
ton viii have to be submitted in writ
! ing.
The German pIenpiotentiaries will
know that they have the maximum
period Of Is days within which to
! present in English and French their
written observations on the whole Of
! the treaty. Before expiration Of the
aforesaid period OF Is days the Ger
man delegates will be entitled TO send
j their reply on particular headings OF
! the treaty or TO ask questions in re-
! gard to them.
After having examined the obser-
/ vations presented within aforemen-
/ toned period the supreme council will
send their answer in writing to the
; German delegation and determine the
period within which the final global
Worldwide answer must be given
! by this delegation.
The president wishes to add that
when we receive. after two or three
or four or five days, any observa-
tions from the German delegation or
any point of the treaty. We shall not
wait until the end Of the 15 days to
give our answer. We shall at once
proceed in the way indicated by this
document.
NJ. CIemenceau spoke in French.
Count Won Brockdorff- -RantZali.
. head of the German delegation.
speaking in German. sid:
.sGentlemen: We are deeply i'm
pressed with the sublime task which
has brought us hither to give n dura-
bic peace to the world. We are under
70 illusion as to the extent Of our de-
feat and degree of our want of pow
or. We know that the power of the
German arms is broker. We know
the power Of the hatred which we en-
counter here, and we have heard the
passionate demand that the vanquish-
crs may make us pay as the van
quished. and shall pun'S'' those WHO
are worthy Of being pit shed.
ut is demanded from us that we
hall confess ourselves to be the only
ones guilty Of the war. Such a con-
(ession in my mouth would be q lie.
We are far from declining any re-
sponsibility that this great war of the