3 613 .U5 1917c Copy 1 D 613 .U5 1917c Copy 1 REPLY OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE COM- MUNICATION OF THE POPE TO THE BELLIGER- ENT GOVERNMENTS. August -27, 1017. To His Holiness Be:nedictus XV. Pope. In acknowledgement of the communication of Your Holiness to the belligerent peoples, dated August 1, 1917, the President of the United States requests me to transmit the following reply : Ever}' heart that has not been blinded and hardened by this ter- rible war must be touched by this moving appeal of His Holiness the Pope, must feel the dignity and force of the humane and generous motives which prompted it, and must fervently wish that we might take the path of peace he so persuasively points out. But it would be folly to take it if it does not in fact lead to the goal he proposes. Our response must be based upon the stern facts and upon nothing else. It is not a mere cessation of arms he desires ; it is a stable and enduring peace. This agony must not be gone through with again, and it must be a matter of very sober judgment what will insure us against it. His Holiness in substance proposes that we return to the status quo ante helium, and that then there be a general condonation, dis- armament, and a concert of nations based upon an acceptance of the principle of arbitration; that by a similar concert freedom of the seas be established; and that the territorial claims of France and Italy, the perple:^ing problems of the Balkan States, and the restitu- tion of Poland be left to such conciliator}^ adjustments as may be possible in the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid to the aspirations of the peoples whose political fortunes and affilia- tions will be involved. It is manifest that no part of this program can be successfully carried out unless the restitution of the status quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis for it. The object of this war is to de- liver the free peoples of the world from the menace and the actual power of a vast military establishment controlled by an irrespon- sible government which, having secretly planned to dominate the world, proceeded to carry the plan out without regard either to the sacred obligations of treaty or the long-established practices and long-cherished principles of international action and honor; which 12117—17 2 O A^ ohose Its own tune lor the wur; delivered its blow fiercely" and sud- denly: stopped at no barrier either of law or of mercy; swept a whole continent within the tide of blood — not the l)lood of soldiers only, but the blood of innocent women and children also and of the helpless poor: and now stands ])alked but not defeated, the enemy of four-fiftlis of the world. This power is not the (Terman people. It is the i-uthless master of the German people. It is no business of <;nrs how that ,i>i-eat people came nnder its control or submitted with temporary zest to the domination of its purpose: but it is our busi- ness to see to it that the history of the rest of the world is no longer left to its handlinii'. To deal with such a power l)y way of peace upon the plan pro- posed by His Holiness the Pope would, so far as we can see, involve a recuperation of its strength and a renewal of its policy: would make it necessary to create a permanent hostile combination of na- tions against the (iernian people who are its instruments; and would result in abandoning the newborn Russia to the intrigue, the mani- fold subtle interference, and the certain counter-revolution which Avould be attem])ted by all the malign influences to which the German Government has of late accustfmied the world. Can peace be based upon a restitution of its poAver or uj^on any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty of settlement and accommodation ? Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see. if they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely u])on jiolitical or economic restrictions meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass othei'S, iipon vindictive action of any sort, or any kind of revenge or deliberate injury. The American people have suffered intolerable Avrongs at the hands of the Imperial (lerman (iovernment. but they desire no reprisal upon the German jieople who have them- selves suifered all things in this war which they did not choose. They believe that peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not the rights of Governments — the rights of peopled great or small, weak or ])owerful — -their equal right to freedom and security and self-government and to a participation upon fair terms in the economic opportunities of the world, the German people of course included if they will accept equality and not seek domination. The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this: Is it based upon the faith of all the peoples involved or merely upon the word of an am]>itious and intriguing government on the one hand and of a group of free peoples on the other? This is a test which goes to ihe root of the matter; and it is the test which must be applied. The purposes of the United States in this war are known to the whole world, to every people to whom the truth has been permitted to come. They do not need to be stated again. We seek no material ^idvantage of any kind. We believe that the intolerable wrongs D. of 1). SEP 24 1917 f"^ (.lone in this war by the furious and brutal power of the Imperial German Government ought to be repaired, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of any people — rather a vindication of the sover- eignty both of those that are weak and of those that are strong. Punitive damages, the dismemberment of empires, the establishment of selfish and exclusive economic leagues, we deem inexpedient and in the end worse than futile, no proper basis for a peace of any kind, least of all for an enduring peace. That must be based upon justice and fairness and the common rights of mankind. We can not take the word of the present rulers of Germany as a guaranty of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justi- fied in accepting. Without such guaranties treaties of settlement, agreements for disarmament, covenants to set up arbitration in the place of force, territorial adjustments, reconstitutions of small na- tions, if made with the German Government, no man, no nation could now depend on. We must await some new evidence of the pur- poses of the great peoples of the central powers. God grant it may be given soon and in a way to restore the confidence of all peoples everj^where in the faith of nations and the possibility of a cove- nanted peace. Robert Lansing, Secretamj of State of the United States of America. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OPFICB : 1917 LIBRARY OF CONGHbbb 021 394 513 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 394 513 # Metal Edge. Inc. 2006 RA.T