Deputies consider, in entire
agreement with the view expressed by our delegation, that the
proposals are contrary to the principle of national
self-determination, even in the restricted form in which it
appears in Point 3 of the reply given by the Four Powers on the
12th ult. President of the Russian Delegation, A. Joffe." Major
Brinkmann has communicated this by telephone to the German
delegation, already on the way here. Herr von Kuehlmann has sent a
telephone message in return that he is continuing the journey, and
will arrive at Brest this evening.'

"I also went on of course, considering this manoeuvre on the part of
the Russians as rather in the nature of bluffing. If they do not come,
then we can treat with the Ukrainians, who should be in Brest by now.

"In Vienna I saw, among politicians, Baernreither, Hauser, Wekerle,
Seidler, and some few others. The opinion of almost all may be summed
up as follows: 'Peace _must_ be arranged, but a separate peace without
Germany is _impossible_.'

"No one has told me how I am to manage it if neither Germany nor
Russia will listen to reason.

"_January 4, 1918._--Fearful snowstorm in the night; the heating
apparatus in the train was frozen, and the journey consequently far
from pleasant. On awaking early at Brest the trains of the Bulgarians
and Turks were standing on adjacent sidings. Weather magnificent now:
cold, and the air as at St. Moritz. I went across to Kuehlmann, had
breakfast with him, and talked over events in Berlin. There seems to
have been desperate excitement there. Kuehlmann suggested to Ludendorff
that he should come to Brest himself and take part in the
negotiations. After long discussion, however, it appeared that
Ludendorff himself was not quite clear as to what he wanted, and
declared spontaneously that he considered it superfluous for him to go
to Brest; he would, at best, 'only spoil things if he did.' Heaven
grant the man such gleams of insight again, and often! It seems as if
the whole trouble is more due to feeling against Kuehlmann than to
anything in the questions at issue; people do not want the world to
have the impression that the peace was gained by 'adroit diplomacy,'
but by military success alone. General Hoffmann appears to have been
received with marked favour by the Kaiser, and both he and Kuehlmann
declare themselves well satisfied with the results of their journey.

"We talked over the reply to the Petersburg te