rights of humanity, and that we cannot remain silent while those rights seem in process of being swept utterly away in the maelstrom of this terrible war.

APRIL 24, 1916-EASTER INSURRECTION IN DUBLIN.

MAY 4, 1916-GERMANY AGAIN PROMISES TO AMEND HER METHOD OF SUBMARINE Warfare.

MAY 8, 1916-NOTE DISPATCHED TO GERMANY, ACKNOWLEDGING GERMANY'S ASSURANCES.

(This was the final submarine note, closing the discussion. All now depended upon Germany.)

Accepting the Imperial Government's declaration of its abandonment of the policy which has so seriously menaced the good relations between the two countries, the Government of the United States will rely upon a scrupulous execution henceforth of the now altered policy of the Imperial Government.

MAY 15, 1916-AUSTRIANS BEGIN STRONG OFFENSIVE AGAINST ITALIANS IN THE TRENTINO.

MAY 27, 1916-ADDRESS BEFORE THE LEAGUE TO ENFORCE PEACE, WASHINGTON.

(This address is prophetic of the statements of America's war aims, subsequently repeated many times, and now the Allied object of the war.)

We believe these fundamental things: First, that every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live. Like other nations, we have ourselves no doubt once and again offended against that principle when for a little while controlled by selfish passion, as our franker historians have been honorable enough to admit; but it has become more and more our rule of life and action. Second, that the small states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and for their territorial integrity that great and powerful nations expect and insist upon. And, third, that the world has a right to be free from every disturbance of its peace that has its origin in aggression and disregard of the rights of peoples and nations.

MAY 30, 1916-REMNANT OF SERBIAN ARMY JOINS ALLIES at SALONIKI.

MAY 31, 1916-GERMAN MAIN FLEET COMES OUT AND IS DEFEATED OFF Jutland, giving THE ALLIES UNCHALLENGED Command of the Sea, Save for Submarines.

JUNE 5, 1916-LORD KITCHENER LOST WITH CRUISER HAMP

SHIRE.

JUNE 6, 1916-ITALIANS STOP AUSTRIANS In Trentino.

JULY 1, 1916-Great ALLIED SOMME Offensive Begins.

JULY 9, 1916-SUBMARINE Deutschland ARRIVES IN AMERICA ON ITS FIRST VOYAGE.

AUGUST 9, 1916-ITALIANS TAKE GORITZ.

AUGUST 28, 1916–Roumania ENTERS THE WAR.

(One of the greatest tragedies of the war. Roumania, under pressure and promise from Russia and urged by the Allies, feeling that the tide had safely turned against Germany, took a fatal step. She was quickly crushed.)

SEPTEMBER 28, 1916-VenIZELOS, GREEK STATESMAN AND PROGRESSIVE, SWINGS GREECE INTO LINE WITH THE ALLIES. OCTOBER 13, 1916-ITALIANS WIN VICTORY ON CARSO PLATEAU.

DECEMBER 12, 1916—GermANY PROPOSES PEACE NEGOTIA

TIONS.

(Germany felt that it would be a good time to end the war. She was in possession of Belgium and most of the Balkans, and held a slice of France. The Allied offensive on the Western front, the vigorous and brilliant French recovery at Verdun, and Italian activity against the Austrians had shown the High Command that, as affairs stood, they could not win by arms alone without a high cost. So an attempt was made to bring about a peace which would postpone the war until Germany could gather herself together to begin again. This was the first, but not the last, of the “Peace Offensives,” as they have come to be called. Many times since then she has tried to pull victory out of the fire by psychological processes. In these attempts she has had plenty

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of assistance in enemy nations, some of it deliberate and sinister, but most of it the mistaken infatuation of pacifists, so called, and of the carelessly ignorant. This present attempt took the form of a suggestion that delegates from the belligerent countries meet at a neutral point and discuss possible terms of peace.)

INTERVENTION.

DECEMBER 18, 1916-PRESIDENT WILSON SENDS A NOTE TO THE BELLIGERENTS ASKING THEM TO STATE TERMS "UPON WHICH THE war might BE CONCLUDED."

(President Wilson's prestige was at a low ebb, in Europe at least, after the sending of this note. The Allies resented a suggestion that they abandon the war while Germany was still unpunished and unrepentant. (Germany had just overrun Roumania and was holding firm in France and Belgium.) It was especially unfortunate, coming so closely after Germany's attempts to secure the spoils of outlawery by a premature and patched up peace. What was regarded as a suggestion in the note that the Allied war aims and purposes were no better than Germany's gave added offense. At home opinion was confused and divided. It is now believed by many that the note was sent because the administration realized that America was on the brink of war and the President did not wish it to be said afterward that he had neglected any step which might honorably have averted it. Germany, answering vaguely, proposed again a meeting of delegates. The Allies, replying through France, doubted whether the time had come when a peace of lasting benefit to Europe could be secured. The Allies' terms, however, were given in a broad way, involving restoration, reparation, rehabilitation and guarantees.)

"MUST THIS WAR PROCEED?"

A NOTE TO THE BELLIGERENTS ASKING FOr a Definite StateMENT OF PEACE TERMS. (Abridged)

The President suggests that an early occasion be sought to call out from all the nations now at war such an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be concluded and the arrangements which would be deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against its renewal or the kindling of any similar conflict in the future as would make it possible frankly to compare them.

He takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact that the

objects, which the statesmen of the belligerents on both sides have in mind in this war, are virtually the same, as stated in general terms to their own people and to the world. Each side desires to make the rights and privileges of weak peoples and small States as secure against aggression or denial in the future as the rights and privileges of the great and powerful States now at war. Each wishes itself to be made secure in the future, along with all other nations and peoples, against the recurrence of wars like this and against aggression or selfish interference of any kind. Each would be jealous of the formation of any more rival leagues to preserve an uncertain balance of power amid multiplying suspicions; but each is ready to consider the formation of a league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout the world. Before that final step can be taken, however, each deems it necessary first to settle the issues of the present war upon terms which will certainly safeguard the independence, the territorial integrity, and the political and commercial freedom of the nations involved.

The President therefore feels altogether justified in suggesting an immediate opportunity for a comparison of views as to the terms which must precede those ultimate arrangements for the peace of the world, which all desire and in which the neutral nations as well as those at war are ready to play their full responsible part. If the contest must continue to proceed toward undefined ends by slow attrition until the one group of belligerents or the other is exhausted; if million after million of human lives must continue to be offered up until on the one side or the other there are no more to offer; if resentments must be kindled that can never cool and despairs engendered from which there can be no recovery, hopes of peace and of the willing concert of free peoples will be rendered vain and jdle.

THE OBJECTS HAVE NEVER BEEN STATED.

The life of the entire world has been profoundly affected. Every part of the great family of mankind has felt the burden and terror of this unprecedented contest of arms. No nation in the civilized world can be said in truth to stand outside its influence or to be safe against its disturbing effects. And yet the concrete objects for which it is being waged have never been definitively stated.

The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has been said. stated those objects in general terms. But, stated in general terms, they seem the same on both sides. Never yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either side avowed the precise objectswhich would, if attained, satisfy them and their people that the

war had been fought out. The world has been left to conjecture what definitive results, what actual exchange of guaranties, what political or territorial changes or readjustments, what stage of military success, even, would bring the war to an end.

It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that the terms which the belligerents on the one side and on the other would deem it necessary to insist upon are not so irreconcilable as some have feared; that an interchange of views would clear the way at least for conference and make the permanent concord of the nations a hope of the immediate future, a concert of nations immediately practicable.

The President is not proposing peace; he is not even offering mediation. He is merely proposing that soundings be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral nations with the belligerent, how near the haven of peace may be for which all mankind longs with an intense and increasing longing. He believes that the spirit in which he speaks and the objects which he seeks will be understood by all concerned, and he confidently hopes for a response which will bring a new light into the affairs of the world.

COMMENTS ON PEACE NOTE.

Senator Weeks: "Ill-timed and unwise."

Senator Stone: "A very timely proffer. . . . It is the beginning of the end."

Prof. Ellery C. Stowell, New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung: "The President has chosen the psychological moment."

Von Bernstorff: "Now I am positive there will be a peace conference."

New York Tribune: "Now American influence for real peace, for just peace, is abolished."

New York World: "It cannot be ignored, and the powers must go further than any European statesmen have yet gone in defining the objects of the war and the terms of peace.'

Taglische Rundschau (Germany): "President Wilson is actuated by vanishing profits on the one hand and the fear of submarine warfare on the other hand."

Clemenceau in L'Homme Enchainé: "The moral side of the war has escaped President Wilson. He believes himself just when he speaks to all in the same terms." Gustave Hervé in Victoire: "President Wilson has delivered us full in the chest the greatest blow, the most dangerous since Charleroi."

London Observer: "A memorable mistake has been made at the White House. That mistake jeopardizes all the beneficient possibilities of the role which might have been and may still be reserved for the American President at a later stage."

L'Intransigeant: "This act will disarrange the sly maneuver our adversary is seeking to accomplish at this time. He will not be able to escape the request of the American question." Montreal Star: "He has failed to see the moral issue." Toronto Globe: "The prevalent tone of the European press is one of polite ridicule."

DECEMBER 19, 1916-LLOYD GEORGE MAKES FIRST SPEECH AS NEW PREMIER.

(He repudiated the German peace proposals, asserting England was making war with its new cabinet, not peace.)

JANUARY 6-7, 1917-ALLIED WAR CONFEREnce at Rome. JANUARY 10, 1917-FRANCE REPLIES, FOR THE ALLIES, TO PRESIDENT WILSON'S NOTE.

JANUARY 18, 1917-ENGLAND REPLIES, THROUGH ARTHUR J. BALFOUR, FOREIGN SECRETARY.

(Mr. Balfour's reply, supplemental to that of France, suggested a league of nations to prevent hostilities in the future.) JANUARY 22, 1917-PRESIDENT WILSON ADDRESSES CONGRESS ON TERMS OF PEACE.

(President Wilson announced to the world a basis for peaceand the only basis-upon which the United States could join with other nations to take part in keeping the world henceforth at peace. It was the first statement of the principles which are now accepted as the basis of the Allied Peace Platform. This address was cordially received everywhere. It did much to clarify and express' Allied thinking upon the war, and to prepare American thought for what must now have seemed inevitable in the near future-our entrance into the war; although many politicians and journalists called it a Eutopian dream, and many felt it was another case of impudent intrusion. This was the famous "Peace without Victory" address-a phrase angrily misunderstood at the time. On the whole, the address reinstated President Wilson in European regard, and proved the first step toward that impersonal and disinterested world leadership which is now accorded him.)