SMLD613
G74 1917

am

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE
CASE OF THE ALLIES

BEING THE REPLIES TO
PRESIDENT WILSON, AND
MR. BALFOUR'S DESPATCH.

LONDON :
HAYMAN, CHRISTY & LILLY, LTD.
1917.

THE
CASE OF THE ALLIES

BEING THE REPLIES TO
PRESIDENT WILSON, AND
MR. BALFOUR'S DESPATCH.

LONDON :
HAYMAN, CHRISTY & LILLY, LTD.
191 7.

THE
CASE OF THE ALLIES.

The Reply of the Allies to the American Note.
I. The Allied Governments have received the
Note handed to them on the 19th December, 1916,
by the Government of the United States. They
have considered it with the care due both to their
own keen sense of the gravity of the present time,
and to the sincere friendship which unites them to
the American people.
2. In a general way, they desire to declare their
respect for the lofty sentiments inspiring the
American Note and their whole-hearted agreement
with the proposal to create a league of nations
which shall assure peace and justice throughout the
world. They recognise all the benefits which will
accrue to the cause of humanity and civilisation from
the institution of international arrangements
designed to prevent violent conflicts between
nations, and so framed as to provide the sanctions
necessary to their enforcement, lest an illusory
security should serve merely to facilitate fresh acts
of aggression. 3. But a discussion of future arrangements for
assuring a durable peace presupposes a satisfactory
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settlement of the present conflict. The Allies
cherish a desire as deep as that of the Government
of the United States to see an end put as soon as
possible to the war for which the Central Empires
are responsible, and which inflicts such cruel suffer
ings upon humanity. But in their judgment it is
impossible to obtain at this moment such a peace as
will not only secure to them the reparation, the
restitution, and the guarantees justly due to them
by reason of the act of aggression, the guilt of which
is fixed upon the Central Powers, while the very
principle from which it sprang was undermining the
safety of Europe ; and at the same time such a
peace as will enable the future of the European
nations to be established upon a sure foundation.
The Allied nations are convinced that they are not
fighting for selfish interests, but above all to pro
vide safeguards for the independence of peoples,
for law and for humanity.
4. The Allies are fully conscious of the losses
and suffering entailed by war on neutrals, as well as
on belligerents. They regret them, but cannot
consider themselves responsible for them, as they
in no way either desired or provoked this war ; they
are doing all in their power to reduce in every
possible way the damage occasioned by it, so far
as they can do so under the inexorable pressure of
providing for their own defence against the violence
and devices of the enemy.
5. They note with satisfaction the declaration
made to them that the American communication is
not in any way connected in its origin with that of
the Central Powers, transmitted to them on
December 18th by the Government of the United
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States. Indeed, they did not doubt the determina
tion of that Government to avoid any appearance of
giving even moral support to the responsible
authors of the war.
¦6. The Allied Governments feel it their duty
to challenge in the most friendly, but also in the
clearest way, the analogy drawn between the two
groups of belligerents. This analogy, based on
the public declarations of the Central Powers, is
in direct conflict with the evidence, both as re
gards responsibility for the past and guarantees
for the future. President Wilson, in alluding to
this analogy, did not of course intend to adopt
it as his own.
7. If any fact of history is clearly established
to-day, it is the calculated policy of aggression
by which Germany and Austria-Hungary sought
to ensure their hegemony of Europe and their
economic domination over the world. By her
declaration of war, by the instant violation of
Belgium and Luxemburg, and by her methods of
warfare, Germany has proved that she systematic
ally scorns every principle of humanity and all
respect due to small States. More and more as
the struggle has progressed has the attitude of
the Central Powers and their Allies been a con
stant challenge to humanity and civilisation. Is
it necessary to recall the horrors that marked the
invasion of Belgium and of Serbia, the atrocious
treatment undergone by the invaded countries, the
massacres of hundreds of thousands of inoffensive
Armenians, the barbarities inflicted upon the
peoples of Syria, the raids of Zeppelins upon
ppen towns, the destruction by submarines of pas-
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senger liners and merchant vessels, even under
neutral flags, the cruel treatment inflicted on
prisoners of war, the judicial murders of Miss
Cavell and Captain Fryatt, the deportation and
enslavement of civil populations, etc. ? The per
petration of such a catalogue of crimes regardless
of the reprobation of mankind will surely explain
to President Wilson the protest which the Allies
here make.
8. They consider that the Note which they
have handed to the United States in reply to the
German Note answers the question put by the
American Government, and constitutes in their
own words a public "avowal of their views as to
the terms upon which the war might be con
cluded." But President Wilson expressed a
further wish : he desires the belligerent Powers to
state in the full light of day the aims they have
set themselves in prosecuting the war. The Allies
find no difficulty in meeting this request. Their
aims in this war are well known, for they have
been repeatedly expressed by the heads of their
several Governments. These aims can only be
formulated in detail, with all the just compensa
tions and indemnities due for the losses suffered,
when the moment for negotiation arrives. But the
civilised world knows that they include, primarily
and of necessity, the restoration of Belgium, of
Serbia, and of Montenegro, with the compensa
tions due to them ; the evacuation of the invaded
territories in France, Russia, and Roumania with
fitting reparation; the reorganisation of Europe,
guaranteed by a stable settlement, based alike
upon the principle of nationalities, on the right
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which all peoples, whether small or great, have to
the enjoyment of full security and free economic
development, and also upon territorial agreements
and international arrangements so framed as to
guarantee land and sea frontiers against unjust
attacks ; the restitution of provinces or territories
formerly torn from the Allies by force or contrary
to the wishes of their inhabitants ; the liberation of
Italians, Slavs, Roumanians, Czechs, and Slovaks
from foreign domination ; the liberation of the
peoples who now lie beneath the murderous
tyranny of the Turks and the expulsion from
Europe of the Ottoman Empire, which has
proved itself so radically alien to Western civilisa
tion. 9. The intentions of His Majesty the Emperor
of Russia in regard to Poland have been clearly
shown in the proclamation which he has just
addressed to his armies.
10. It is hardly necessary to add that, while
it is the wish of the Allies to rescue Europe from
the brutal encroachments of Prussian militarism,
it has never been their intention, as has been
alleged, to seek the extermination or the political
extinction of the Germanic peoples. The chief
aim of the Allies is to assure peace on those princi
ples of liberty, justice, and inviolable fidelity to
international obligations, which have never ceased
to inspire the action of the United States.
With this high end in view, the Allied
Governments are each and all determined to put
forth all their strength and to endure every sacri
fice in order that they may press to a victorious
close a conflict on which, they are convinced, de-
;

pend not only their own safety and prosperity,
but the very future of civilisation.
The Belgian Reply.
The Royal Government, which has associated
itself with the Reply handed by the French Prime
Minister to the Ambassador of the United States,
desires particularly to express its sense of the senti
ments of humanity that have prompted the Presi
dent of the United States in addressing his Note to
the belligerent Powers, and it highly appreciates
the friendship towards Belgium which he interprets
with such good will.
As much as Mr. Woodrow Wilson, the Royal
Government would wish to see this war come to an
end as soon as possible.
But the President seems to think that the states
men in the two hostile camps are pursuing the same
war aims. The example of Belgium unhappily
demonstrates that this is not the case. Unlike the
Central Powers, Belgium has never aimed at con
quest. The barbarous manner in which the German
Government has treated and still treats the Belgian
nation does not admit of any supposition that
Germany will make it her care to guarantee for the
future the rights of weak peoples which she has not
ceased to trample under foot ever since the war
that she let loose began to ravage Europe.
On the other hand, the Royal Government notes
with pleasure and with confidence the assurance that
the United States impatiently await the moment to
co-operate in the measures which will be taken, after
peace, to protect and guarantee small nations
against violence and oppression.

Until Germany delivered her ultimatum., Bel
gium's sole, aspiration was to live on good, terms
with all her neighbours ; toward? each of them she
discharged with scrupulous Joyalty the obligations
imposed on her by her neutrality. How was she
rewarded by Germany for the confidence she
showed ? Overnight, without plausible warrant, her
• neutrality was violated, her territory was invaded,
and the Imperial Chancellor, in announcing to the
Rejchstag this violation of right and of treaty, was
compelled to admit the iniquity of such an act and
to promise that reparation would be made. But the
Germans, after occupying Belgian territory, showed
themselves no more observant of the rules of inter
national law or of the provisions of The Hague
Conventions. They exhausted the resources of the
country by exactions as heavy as they were arbi
trary; they deliberately ruined its industries,
destroyed whole towns, and put to death or
imprisoned a considerable number of inhabitants.
Even now, while they loudly proclaim their desire
to put an end to the horrors of the war, they
aggravate the rigours of the occupation by carrying
Belgian workmen into slavery by thousands.
If there is a country that is entitled to say that
it took up arms in order to defend its existence, that
country assuredly is Belgium. Compelled by force
to fight or to submit to dishonour, she passionately
desires that an end may be set to the unheard-of
sufferings of her population. But she could accept
only a peace that assures to her, together with
equitable reparation, securities and guarantees for
the future.
The American people have, since the beginning
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of the war, manifested towards the oppressed
Belgian people their most ardent sympathy. An
American committee, the " Commission for Relief
in Belgium," in intimate co-operation with the
King's Government and with the National Com
mittee, is displaying tireless devotion and mar
vellous activity in supplying the needs of Belgium.
The Royal Government is happy to seize this oppor
tunity of expressing its profound gratitude to the
"Commission for Relief" and to the generous
Americans who are so eagerly bent on relieving the
.miseries of the Belgian population. Nowhere,
moreover, have the raiding and deportation of
Belgian civilians provoked a more spontaneous out
burst of protest and of indignant reprobation than
in the United States.
These facts, which are all to the honour of the
American people, inspire the Royal Government
with the legitimate hope that, at the final settlement
of this long war, the voice of the Entente Powers
will find in the United States a unanimous echo to
claim for Belgium, the innocent victim of German
ambition and of German greed, the rank and posi
tion that are marked out for her among the civilised
nations, by virtue of her blameless past, by the
valour of her soldiers, by her fidelity to honour, and
by her people's remarkable aptitude for Work.
Paris, January ioth/1917.
Mr. Balfour's Despatch.
SIR, — In sending you a translation of the
Allied Note, I desire to make the following ob
servations which you should bring to the notice
of the United States Government. 10

I gather from the general tenor of the Presi
dent's Note that, while he is animated by an in
tense desire that peace should come soon, and
that when it comes it should be lasting, he does
not, for the moment at least, concern himself with
the terms on which it should be arranged. His
Majesty's Government entirely share the Presi- '
dent's ideals; but they feel strongly that the
durability of the peace must largely depend on
its character, and that no stable system of inter
national relations can be built on foundations
which are essentially and hopelessly defective.
This becomes clearly apparent if we consider
the main conditions which rendered possible the
calamities from which the world is now suffering.
These were the existence of a Great Power con
sumed with the lust of domination, in the midst
of a community of nations' ill-prepared for de
fence, plentifully supplied, indeed, with inter
national laws, but with no machinery for enforc
ing them, and weakened by the fact that neither
the boundaries of the various States nor their
internal constitution harmonised with the aspira
tions of their constituent races, or secured to them
just and equal treatment.
That this last evil would be greatly mitigated if
the Allies secured the changes in the map of
Europe outlined in their joint Note is manifest,
and I need not labour the point.
It has been argued, indeed, that the expulsion
of the Turks from Europe forms no proper or
logical part of this general scheme. The main
tenance of the Turkish Empire was, during many
generations, regarded by statesmen of world-wide
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authority as essential "to the maintenance of
European peace. Why, it is asked, should the
cause of peace be now associated with a complete
reversal of this traditional policy ?
The answer is that circumstances have com
pletely changed. It is unnecessary to consider
now whether the creation of a reformed Turkey
mediating between hostile races in the Near East
was a scheme which, had the Sultan been sincere
and the Powers united, could ever have been rea
lised. It certainly cannot be realised now. The
Turkey of "Union and Progress" is at least as
barbarous, and is far more aggressive than the
Turkey of Sultan Abdul Hamid. In the hands
of Germany it has ceased even in appearance to
be a bulwark of peace, and is openly used as
an instrument of conquest. Under German
officers, Turkish soldiers are now fighting in lands
from which they had long been expelled ; and a
Turkish Government, controlled, subsidised, and
supported by Germany, has been guilty of massa
cres in Armenia and Syria more horrible than any
recorded in the history even of those unhappy
countries. Evidently the interests of peace and
the claims of nationality alike require that
Turkish rule over alien races shall, if possible, be
brought to an end; and we may hope that the
expulsion of Turkey from Europe will contribute
as much to the cause of peace as the restoration
of Alsace-Lorraine to France, of Italia Irredenta
to Italy, or any of the other territorial changes in
dicated in the Allied Note.
Evidently, however, such territorial rearrange
ments, though they may diminish the occasions of
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war, provide no sufficient security against its recur
rence. If Germarly, or, rather, those in Germany
who mould its opinions and control its destinies,
again set out to dominate the world, they may find
that by the new order of things the adventure is
made more difficult, but hardly that it is made -
impossible. They may still have ready to their
hand a political system organised through and
through on a military basis ; they may still accumu
late vast stores of military equipment ; they may
still perfect their methods of attack, so that their
more pacific neighbours will be struck down before
they can prepare themselves for defence. If so,
Europe when the war is over will be far poorer in
men, in money, and in mutual goodwill than it was
when the war began, but it will not be safer ; and
the hopes for the future of the world entertained by
the President will be as far as ever from fulfilment.
There are those who think that, for this disease,
international treaties and international laws may
provide a sufficient cure. But such persons have
ill-learned the lessons so clearly taught by recent
history. While other nations, notably the United
States of America and Britain, were striving by
treaties of arbitration to make sure that no chance
quarrel should mar the peace they desired to make
perpetual, Germany stood aloof. Her historians
and philosophers preached the splendours of war:
Power was proclaimed as the true end of the State ;
the General Staff forged with untiring industry the
weapons by which, at the appointed moment, Power
might be achieved. These facts proved clearly
enough that treaty arrangements for maintaining
peace were not likely to find much favour at Berlin ;
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they did not prove that such treaties, once made,
would be utterly ineffectual. This became evident
only when war had broken out ; though the demon
stration, when it came, was overwhelming. So long
as Germany remains the Germany which, without a
shadow of justification, over-ran and barbarously ill-
treated a country it was pledged to defend, no State
can regard its rights as secure if they have no better
protection than a solemn treaty.
The case is made worse by the reflection that
these methods of calculated brutality were de
signed by the Central Powers not merely to crush
to the dust those with whom they were at war,
but to intimidate those with whom they were still
at peace. Belgium was not only a victim — it was
an example. Neutrals were intended to note the
outrages which accompanied its conquest, the
reign of terror which followed on its occupation,
the deportation of a portion of its population, the
cruel oppression of the remainder. And lest
nations happily protected, either by British fleets
or by their own, from German armies should sup
pose themselves safe from German methods, the
submarine has (within its limits) assiduously
imitated the barbaric practices of the sister ser
vice. The War Staffs of the Central Powers are
well content to horrify the world if at the same
time they can terrorise it.
If, then, the Central Powers succeed, it will
be to methods like these that they will owe their
success. How can any reform of international re
lations be based on a peace thus obtained ? Such
a peace would represent the triumph of all the
forces, which make war certain and make it brutal.
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It would advertise the futility of all the methods
on which civilisation relies to eliminate the occa
sions of international dispute and to mitigate their
ferocity. Germany and Austria made the present war
inevitable by attacking the rights of one small
State, and they gained their initial triumphs by
violating the treaty-guarded territories of another.
Are small States going to find in them their future
protectors, or in treaties made by them a bulwark
against aggression? Terrorism by land and sea
will have proved itself the instrument of victory.
Are the victors likely to abandon it on the appeal
of the neutrals ? If existing treaties are no more
than scraps of paper, can fresh treaties help us?
If the violation of the most fundamental canons
of international law be crowned with success, will
it not be in vain that the assembled nations labour
to improve their code? None will profit by their
rules but the criminals who break them. It is
those who keep them that will suffer.
Though, therefore, the people of this country
share to the full the desire of the President for
peace, they do not believe that peace can be durable
if it be not based on the success of the Allied cause.
For a durable peace can hardly be expected unless
three conditions are fulfilled. The first is that the
existing causes of international unrest should be, as
far as possible, removed or weakened. The second
is that the aggressive aims and the unscrupulous
methods of the Central Powers should fall into
disrepute among their own peoples. The third is
that behind international law, and behind all treaty
arrangements for preventing or limiting hostilities,
G 6673 15

some form of international sanction should be
devised which would give pause to the hardiest
aggressor. These conditions may be difficult of
fulfilment. But we believe them to be in general
harmony with the President's ideals, and we are
confident that none of them can. be satisfied, even
imperfectly, unless peace be secured, on the genera]
lines indicated (so far as Europe is concerned) in
the Joint Note. Therefore it is that this country
has made, is making, and is prepared to make sacri
fices of blood and treasure unparalleled in its
history. It bears these heavy burdens not merely
that it may thus fulfil its treaty obligations, nor yet
that it may secure a barren triumph of one group of
nations over another. It bears them because it
firmly believes that on the success of the Allies
depend the prospects of peaceful civilisation and of
those international reforms which the best thinkers
of the New World, as of the Old, dare to hope, may
follow on the cessation of our present calamities.
I am, with great truth and respect, Sir, your
Excellency's most obedient, humble servant,
Arthur James Balfour.

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