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Show LONDON NEWSPAPERS APPR01E0F SPEECH News and Mail, However, Look With Favor on Peace Negotiations. LONDON, Dec. 20, 3:3S a. m. The bulk of the morning papers agree that Pre- , mier Lloyd George expressed the views of the British nation in his speech in the house of commons dealing with Germany's Ger-many's peace proposal. "Premier Lloyd George," says the Times, "expressed the thoughts and wishes of the nation and laid down a programme pro-gramme which will command Its hearty support." This Is the tone of the comment in most of the other papers, which hold that the premier's answer and also Lord Curzon's ! speech in the house of lords are "moder- j ate in phrase, rirm and unanswerable in substance." The papers declare that the I nation Is prepared and will willingly un- ; dertake all the sacrifices foreshadowed and will face greater privations if necessary neces-sary to insure those ends of reparation and security which the allies demand from the central powers. There Is nowhere any hostile criticism of the government's declaration, but the ! Daily News contends that the forecast of the measures for organizing the nation do little more than Indicate-that the policy of the late government will be continued and extended. It says that if the new government succeeds as well as its predecessor prede-cessor the nation will be grateful and that if it succeeds better, the nation will be more than grateful. At the same time the newspaper comments com-ments point out the possibility of negotiations nego-tiations beincr undertaken, notwithstanding notwithstand-ing the strong statements of the premier and Lord Curzon and their indorsement by members of the late government. Thus the Daily News says that the door Js not necessarily banged and bolted and that the allies' flat refusal of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg's offer is not meant to indicate that the allies do not wish peace, but that Germany must ask it in the role of the vanquished and not the victor. The News expresses the hope that the allies will speedily agree on precise pre-cise terms on which they will be willing to negotiate. Even the Mail, which has always demanded extreme measures against Germany, says: "There is no obstacle whatever to peace If Germany really wants it. She has merely to withdraw from the occupied countries and we are willing enough to discuss reparation and guarantees for the future." |