adjustments,
reconstitutions of small nations, if made with the German Government,
no man, no nation could now depend on. We must await some new evidence
of the purposes of the great peoples of the Central Powers. God grant
it may be given soon and in a way to restore the confidence of all
peoples everywhere in the faith of nations and the possibility of
covenanted peace."

Early in November, 1917, the Kerensky Government was overthrown in
Russia and the Bolsheviki came into power. They at once proposed a
general armistice and called upon all the belligerents to enter into
peace negotiations. The Central Powers accepted the invitation, and
early in December negotiations began at Brest-Litovsk. The Russian
peace proposals were: the evacuation of occupied territories,
self-determination for nationalities not hitherto independent, no war
indemnities or economic boycotts, and the settlement of colonial
questions in accordance with the above principles. The Austrian
minister, Count Czernin, replied for the Central Powers, accepting more
of the Russian program than had been expected, but rejecting the
principle of a free plebiscite for national groups not hitherto
independent, and conditioning the whole on the acceptance by the Allies
of the offer of general peace. The conference called on the Allies for
an answer by January 4. No direct reply was made to this demand, but
the Russian proposals had made a profound impression on the laboring
classes in all countries, and both Lloyd George and President Wilson
felt called on to define more clearly the war aims of the Allies.

In a speech delivered January 5, 1918, Lloyd George made the first
comprehensive and authoritative statement of British war aims. He had
consulted the labor leaders and Viscount Grey and Mr. Asquith, as well
as some of the representatives of the overseas dominions, and he was
speaking, he said, for "the nation and the Empire as a whole." He
explained first what the British were not fighting for. He disclaimed
any idea of overthrowing the German Government, although he considered
military autocracy "a dangerous anachronism"; they were not fighting to
destroy Austria-Hungary, but genuine self-government must be granted to
"those Austro-Hungarian nationalities who have long desired it"; they
were not fighting "to deprive Turkey of its capital or of the rich and
renowned lands of Thrace, which are predominantly Turkish in race," but
the passage be