ove all fear of
their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to live in
security and contentment when they have set their own affairs in order.
I, for one, do not doubt their purpose or their capacity. There are some
happy signs that they know and will choose the way of self-control and
peaceful accommodation. If they do, we shall put our aid at their
disposal in every way that we can. If they do not, we must await with
patience and sympathy the awakening and recovery that will assuredly
come at last.

FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES OF PEACE

On Tuesday, January 8, 1918, President Wilson placed the peace terms of
the United States Government before both houses of Congress, in joint
session. The fourteen principles were:

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall
be no private international understanding of any kind, but diplomacy
shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial
waters, alike in peace and war, except as the seas may be closed in
whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of
international covenants.

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the
establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations
consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be
reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. A free, open-minded and absolutely impartial adjustment of all
Colonial claims based upon a strict observance of the principle that in
determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the
populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims
of the government whose title is to be determined.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all
questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest
co-operation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an
unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent
determination of her own political development and national policy, and
assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under
institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance
also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The
treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come
will