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Show WILSON HOPEFUL OF GOOD RESULTS Certainty of a Unani mous Refusal by tht Entente Powers to Enter En-ter Peace Conference Without Knowing the Terms Does Not Discourage Dis-courage President. GERMANY MAY SHOW HER HAND Belief Expressed That Secret Communication Will Be Sent to Wash- j ington; London, Paris and Petrograd Comment Com-ment on Situation. i LONDON, Dec. 27, 6:32 p. m. It is not believed ia official circles her that there exists any possibility of assembling a peace conference as proposed in the German reply to President Wilson's note, unless Germany Ger-many is willing to make sttggestions in advance regarding her ideas of the terms of peace. WASHINGTON", Dec. 27. In spite of (he wide gulf between the insist ouie of the central powers for an immediate peace conference and tbe forecast of h unanimous refusal by the entente allies to enter such a conference without knoving G crniany 'h terms in advance, the American government believes that the negotiations in progress arc resulting result-ing in gootl. Jt was said with authority tonight that until the door to peace actually is closed by one tide or the other President Wilson will continue to hope that any discussion of the subject will tend to hasten the end of the wiir. Count von Bernstorff, the German ambassador, am-bassador, returning unexpectedly touipht from New York, authorized the Associated Asso-ciated Pren8 to make the following statement: state-ment: "I regard the note of my government as constituting an acceptance nf everything every-thing suggested by President Wilson in bis note to the belligerent nations of Europe.'' Eu-rope.'' Ready to Declare Terms. It was made clear at. the embassy that Gormany stands ready to make kDowu ber terms on the first day of any con-ferenc con-ferenc that may be held, and officials expressed themsel ves as being grea My surprised at (ho view prevailing in sumo quarters hero that the Berlin government govern-ment had failed to meet the president's suggestion by not sett ing down in the reply tbo terms upon which it is willing to maka-peace. The German diplomats say President Wj f son had no intention of drawing a public declaration con corning corn-ing terms from the central powors. On the contrary, they think the president's suggestion "that an early occasion bo sought to call out frnm all tbo nations now at war such an uwnvul of their re sped i ve views as to the terms u ou which the war might be conclude1,'' h:t been fullv met by Germany in seeking an immediate conference with her enemies. ene-mies. Germany's Policy. The German policy upon which tbe replv to President Wilson's communication communica-tion is based, was outlined as follow: Germ a ny feels t ha t the conference suggested by it first should be composed of delegates from the belligerent countries, coun-tries, v. hose duty it would be to sett hi territorial term?. Once these terms arc agreed upon, rept oni tat i es of the neutrals neu-trals should be called in to participate in consideration of the questions of guarantees guaran-tees for the future, in which neutrals am as v it a 1 1 v concerned as belligerent . These narant(n) in (he German view, necessarily would ha e to dn w ith tbti freedom of t he. sejis. li tnited d rraa-meitt, rraa-meitt, formation of a world league of nations na-tions to enforce peacp, and the establishment establish-ment of an international court of arbi-tra arbi-tra t ion. Henna ny Is Paid to --mF'Mr that nu-tr;il nu-tr;il naii"ii' '-;o liavc jcj interest in terms rHatii'g to territory. Secret Advices Possible. Whil'- there V.TIC no ufti'-ilil flr1v1r upon ti'e ngMert, the view J-MH t'rsiste'l in irm;ui i"HtterR tnnlcht that the imt nf the ecitral powers miizht he followed hv BOine Uglily ronfMentinl f,r.il or written writ-ten f-omniunlrn t ion t ('resident Wiicnn. in whirl) at nsl lronl tonlJitlvft tTtnp (Continued on Pago Thrftfl.) SEfIY M SUBMIT TERWIS TO THE U. S. Peace Advocates in Washington Wash-ington Pin Their Hopes to the Possibility of a Secret Communication. (Continued from Page One.) might be stated. In this connection officials offi-cials noted with interest Berlin press dis-patche;-; saving t!iat Ambassador Gerard, who as a result of hn reeenr visit to the l'nited States Is thoroughly familiar with the views of President Wilson, had taken lurch with Alfred Zimmermann, the German Ger-man foreign ml ni &ter. and probably discussed dis-cussed the peace situation with hiin. Count von Bernsiorrf's arr!al in Washington Wash-ington was entirely unexpected. He had not planned to return until tomorrow, but -because of the situation deemed it ad-vlsable ad-vlsable to bo at the embassy immediately. r Tonight the ambassador had no specific Instructions to call upon Secretary Landing, Lan-ding, hut it is not improbable that be will visit the state department within the. next few days to seek information for his jrovenpnent and furnish the administration admin-istration with any he himself may have In his possession. Official Text Awaited. Just what the United States could do toward bridging t lie gulf in case Hie allies al-lies hold to their opposition to a conference confer-ence is the subject of serious discussion anion? officials, but a.s yet no concrete proposal has been advanced. It is said officially that it even has not yet been decided whether this country will send on to the entente the Teutonic reply to the president' note, as embodying a new suggestion, sug-gestion, or whether Its mere publication here would be considered sufficient. The official tern of this reply Is still awaited a nd no further step is expected before It arrives. The extreme delicacy of the situation and the fear of a misstep on the part of each group of belligerents convince con-vince officials tiiat it may be a long time before any really substantial result is obtained. That the allies will declare that there must be a military solution to the war, both in their note to tho president and in their reply to the central powers, was the growing belief here today, both on the basis of statements at the allied embassies embas-sies and from cabled press comment. A London dispatch -today following one from Petrograd yesterday, as well as intimations intima-tions from both Paris and Rome that the allies could not discuss peace until they actually held the territories they considered consid-ered essential fnr their future, was taken tn indicate that the allies want to wait for a substantial military victory .and a reversal of the present military situation. Colonies Invited. Great Britain's Invitation to the premiers pre-miers of all the colonies to attend an imperial im-perial war conference to discuss "possible "pos-sible conditions on which, in agreement with our allies, we could consent to its termination." proved a decided surprise here, where the step was taken as indicating indi-cating the seriousness with which the peace movement is viewed in England. ..Yjj. Tlip holding of such a conference, how-- how-- ever. Is expected to be subsequent to the allied replies to President Wilson and the central powers, and for the purpose of outlining much broader policies than have yet appeared. ' Secretary Lansing was with President n I Wilson for thirty minutes today, but said afterward he had discussed matters of minor Importance. Although Secretary Lansing said today that full information regarding all of the recent submarine attacks on vessels in which the United States is interested is in the possession of the state department, depart-ment, no definite action on that ciucstion is expected during the pendency of peace proposals. All of this information has been forwarded to Berlin and replies are awaited. |
