"Knowing as w ?t.. the feeiinvs c?r
America, w. have not failed to under
stand th. ihotiuht which inspired the
recent Iniii itiv. of I'r. siib ni Wilson."
M. I'oincare replied. "We nr. a! once i
? oiivinced til t ,11 ill.* ii i i lid .,f the illus- '
trious I'ri s ilent th- suj?esiion mad.
to the belii^' rents was in accord with
the traditional friendship between our
two nations. Hut beini> conscious that
we are fig-hiitig for mankind, we Had
ourselves without the rifMit to lay
down our weapons before, we van sign
,i peace really humane: that is to say,
founded upon principles which would
make ii workable and lasting, which
would be consistent with the rights of j
natio..s, and w Iiieli would spare tin* '
world from the repetition of such aj
terrible catastrophe as this: war.
"Unhappily, it is certain that fier- '
many, who now pretends to consider
herself victorious, although she can |
hardly ent< rtaio any doubt as to the i
??nil, hi not ripe as yet for such a !
necessary peace. We. therefore, are i
condemned to continue ihe war until
we?our g.-.llan! allies and ourselves
can obtain the reparations and guar
antees rendered indispensable by the
aggression of which we have been the
victims, by the sacrifices to which we
have subjected ourselves, and by the
losses which w.> have suffered
.wswkh or \i.mi:s
i* ri:nn:rTi^ < i.i:\tt
lite answer whieti the allied nations,
collectively have Just given |u l'r< si- i
? lent Wilson is perfectly clear in this i
respect. For our part, we have noth
ing to conceal. We were attacked.
