Evening star., 1939-11-13
Texts of Peace Plea REPLIES
King George Says Essential Conditions Of
Peace Have Already Been Stated
BY the Associated Press.


BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, e.. l3.-The teri
OF King George yrs reply yester-
day to the mediation proposal OF
Queen WilhelminG and King
Leopold tollo,DS:
To her majesty, the Queen of the
Netherlands:
have carefully examined with
my governments in the United King
dom, Canada, the Commonwealth of
Australia, New Zealand and the
Union of South Africa the appeal
which your majesty and his majesty
the King of the Belgians addressed
to me on November Z.
I recall the appeal made by his
majesty the King of the Belgians
on August % in the name of the
heads Of state of the Oslo group of
states, in which his majesty pleaded
for the submission of disputes and
claims to open negotiation carried
out in the spirit of brotherly CO.
operation.
My government in the United
Kingdom, as we'll as the French gov
ernment, sent favorable replies to
this appeal.
Recalls Joint Offer.
I recall also the joint offer OF
good offices made by your majesty
and his majesty the King of the
Belgians to my government in the
United Kingdom and to French,
German, Italian and Polish govern
ments on August %. This offer was
welcomed by my government and
by the French, Italian and Polish
governments. A few days later the
German government launched an
unprovoked attack on Poland. which
has been overrun with every cir
cumstance of brutality.
My governments deeply appreciate
the spirit of your majesty's offer and
they would .lways be willing to ex-
anime reasonable and assured
basis for an equitable peace. 1t Is,
as it has always been, my desire
that the war should not last one
day longer than is absolutely neces-
sary and I can therefore at once
reply to that part of your majesty's
appeal, in which you state your
willingness to facilitate the ascer-
tanning of the elements of an agree
ment to be reached.
The essential conditions upon
which we are determined that an
honorable peace must be secured
have already been plainly stated.
The documents which have been
published since the beginning of the
war clearly explain its origin and
establish the responsibility for its
outbreak. My peoples took up arms
only after every effort had been
made to save peace.
The Larger Purpose.
The immediate occasion leading to
our decision to enter the war was
Germany's aggression against Po-
land. But this aggression was only
fresh instance of German policy
toward her neighbors. The larger
purposes for which my peoples are
now fighting are to secure that
Europe may be redeemed, in the
words of my Prime Minister in the
United Kingdom, from perpetually
recurring fear of German aggression
so as to enable the peoples of Europe
to preserve their independence and
their liberties" and to prevent for
the future resort to force instead
of the pacific means in settlement
of international disputes.
These aims have been amplified
and enlarged on number of occa-
sions and particularly in the state
ments made by my Prime Minister
in the United Kingdom in the
House of Commons on the 18th of
October and my secretary of state for
foreign affairs in the House of Lords
on the I'd of November.
The elements which, in the opinion
of my governments, must form part
of any settlement emerge clearly and
distinctly from these declarations of
policy. Should your majesty be able
to communicate to me any proposals
from Germany of such a character
as to afford real prospect of achiev-
ing the purpose I have described
above, I can say that my govern
ments would give them their most
earnest consideration