erfectly definite
statement of the principles upon which they would be willing to
conclude peace, but also an equally definite program of the concrete
application of those principles. The representatives of the Central
Powers, on their part, presented an outline of settlement which, if
much less definite, seemed susceptible of liberal interpretation
until their specific program of practical terms was added. That
program proposed no concessions at all, either to the sovereignty of
Russia or to the preferences of the population with whose fortunes it
dealt, but meant, in a word, that the Central Empires were to keep
every foot of territory their armed forces had occupied--every
province, every city, every point of vantage--as a permanent addition
to their territories and their power. It is a reasonable conjecture
that the general principles of settlement which they at first
suggested originated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and
Austria, the men who have begun to feel the force of their own
people's thought and purpose, while the concrete terms of actual
settlement came from the military leaders who have no thought but to
keep what they have got. The negotiations have been broken off. The
Russian representatives were sincere and in earnest. They cannot
entertain such proposals of conquest and domination.

SIGNIFICANCE IN PARLEYS

The whole incident is full of significance. It is also full of
perplexity. With whom are the Russian representatives dealing? For
whom are the representatives of the Central Empires speaking? Are
they speaking for the majorities of their respective parliaments, or
for the minority parties--that military and imperialistic minority
which has so far dominated their whole policy and controlled the
affairs of Turkey and the Balkan states, which have felt obliged to
become their associates in this war? The Russian representatives have
insisted, very justly, very wisely, and in the true spirit of modern
democracy, that the conferences they have been holding with the
Teutonic and Turkish statesmen should be held within open, not
closed, doors, and all the world has been audience, as was desired.

To whom have we been listening, then? To those who speak the spirit
and intention of the resolution of the German Reichstag of the 9th of
July last, the spirit and intention of the Liberal leaders and
parties of Germany, or to those who resist and defy that spirit and
intention and insist upon