eneral costs of the war. They sought
only to make it clear (a point of considerable importance to Great
Britain) that reparation for damage done to non-combatants and their
property was not limited to invaded territory (as it would have been by
the Fourteen Points unqualified), but applied equally to _all_ such
damage, whether "by land, by sea, or from the air" It was only at a
later stage that a general popular demand for an indemnity, covering
the full costs of the war, made it politically desirable to practise
dishonesty and to try to discover in the written word what was not
there.

What damages, then, can be claimed from the enemy on a strict
interpretation of our engagements?[77] In the case of the United Kingdom
the bill would cover the following items:--

(a) Damage to civilian life and property by the acts of an enemy
Government including damage by air raids, naval bombardments, submarine
warfare, and mines.

(b) Compensation for improper treatment of interned civilians.

It would not include the general costs of the war, or (_e.g._) indirect
damage due to loss of trade.

The French claim would include, as well as items corresponding to the
above:--

(c) Damage done to the property and persons of civilians in the war
area, and by aerial warfare behind the enemy lines.

(d) Compensation for loot of food, raw materials, live-stock, machinery,
household effects, timber, and the like by the enemy Governments or
their nationals in territory occupied by them.

(e) Repayment of fines and requisitions levied by the enemy Governments
or their officers on French municipalities or nationals.

(f) Compensation to French nationals deported or compelled to do forced
labor.

In addition to the above there is a further item of more doubtful
character, namely--

(g) The expenses of the Relief Commission in providing necessary food
and clothing to maintain the civilian French population in the
enemy-occupied districts.

The Belgian claim would include similar items.[78] If it were argued
that in the case of Belgium something more nearly resembling an
indemnity for general war costs can be justified, this could only be on
the ground of the breach of International Law involved in the invasion
of Belgium, whereas, as we have seen, the Fourteen Points include no
special demands on this ground.[79] As the cost of Belgian Belief under
(g), as well as her general war costs, has been met already by advances
from the Bri