my country, full of confidence and hope and certain of victory, had
to lay down arms and disappear. No one could accept such a proposal.
Meanwhile, a general disarmament of all the Powers was both possible
and necessary. Disarmament, the establishment of courts of arbitration
under international control: that, according to my idea, would present
an acceptable basis. I mentioned my fears that the Entente rulers in
this, as in the territorial question, would not mete out the same
measure to themselves as they intended for us, and unless I had some
guarantee in the matter I should not be in a position to carry the
plan through here and with our Allies; anyhow, it would be worth a
trial.

Long and frequent were the debates on the Central European question,
which was the Entente's terror, as it implied an unlimited increase in
Germany's power. In Paris and London it would presumably be preferred
that the Monarchy should be made independent of Germany, and any
further advances to Berlin on the part of Vienna checked. We rejoined
that to us this was not a new Entente standpoint, but that the
mutilation caused by the resolutions of the Pact of London forced us
to investigate the matter. Apart from the question of honour and duty
to the Alliance, as matters now stood, Germany was fighting almost
more for us than for herself. If Germany to-day, and we knew it,
concluded peace, she would lose Alsace-Lorraine and her military
superiority on land; but we, with our territory, would have to pay the
Italians, Serbians, and Roumanians for their part in the war.

I heard it said on many sides that there were men in the Entente who
readily understood this point of view, but that the Entente nations
would do what they had intended. Italy had based her entry into the
war on promises from London. Roumania also had been given very solid
assurances, and heroic Serbia must be compensated by Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Many, both in Paris and London, regretted the situation
that had arisen through the conference in London, but a treaty is a
treaty, and neither London nor Paris could forsake their Allies.
Meanwhile, it was thought likely in Entente circles that both the new
Serbian and Polish states, probably Roumania as well, would have
certain relations with the Monarchy. Further details respecting such
relations were still unknown. Our reply was: we would not give up
Galicia to Poland, Transylvania and the Bukovina to Roumania, and
Bosnia togeth