Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-09-09

/ make a proposal of peace to the
| powers:
l was fully in agreement with the
! suggestion and secretly very pleased
that 1t was made. although l was
sceptical of success owing to my view
of the enemys desire for our destruc-
| ton. Their prospects for 1917 We're
so much more favorable than ours
| that, even while | hoped for it, / had
| grave doubts as to the success of any
offer from President Wilson. | waited
with the greatest eagerness TO learn
| whether he would make a proposal in
October; but his reelection in No
vember and the whole of the month of
November nassed without his making
up his mind to do so. and l gave up
any hope of his Intervention.
! Feared To Exhibit Weakness.
Count Burian then came forward
with the proposal that the quadruple
alliance should itself make a direct
offer of peace to the enemy. / was
equally sceptical as TO the success of
this scheme, but thought that it should
be tried; the only thing to avoid at
all costs was any display of weakness.
This would have had very bad effect
on the army and the public, and would
have encouraged the entente to re-
| double their efforts for our destruc-
ton.
So far as he permitted, l cooper
ated with the chancellor in the mat
ter. In order to avoid giving the
enemy the false impression that weak
| ness was our motive for the proposal
| asked that It should not be carried
out until the campaign in Rumania
had been brought to- conclusion
| Bucharest fell on the 9Th of December,
and with that 1 regarded the military
position as so secure that had no OBJ
| lection to the publication of the peace
note.
The proposal for compulsory auxil-
| larry service, which had meanwhile
been passed into law, gave the APP
pearance of a determination to con-
! tinue fighting If our offer was re-
! jected
| His majesty took a most earnest
! interest in the peace offer. displaying
clearly his high sense of his response
billty to bring peace to the world at
the earliest possible moment. On the
18th Of December the peace offering
of the quadruple alliance was made.
There followed an exchange of views
as to the conditions of peace which we
would be prepared to offer, which was,
however destined to meet its end in
the dispatch to Count Bernstorff of
the 29th of January. 1917.
Wanted Morale of Troops Kept Up.
The reception of our offer by the
entente press was wholly unfavorab BILE.
1t soon became clear that it would be
impossible to come to an understand
ing. The entente had its hand tied
| by arrangements and secret agree
ments that could only be carried out If
We were completely defeated. The
answer of the entente. given on the
S0th of January. was such as to leave
no doubt of their intention to ami
hilate us. Their objection that the
tone of our offer had from the first
made any acceptance impossible was
quite unsound.
| Our whole position compelled us to
adopt a tone of confidence. advocat-
| ed this from the iailitary point of
view. Our troops had done marvels;
how would they be affected by our
adopting any other tone? 1t was es-
sential that the peace offer should not
impair tie fighting quality of the,
army; and 1t did not do so, for il was
only an eOiso se and the morale Of the
troops was still good
If the entente had honestly desired
q peace of justice and reconciliation
1t could and should have entered into