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Show LLDYD GEORGE WILL REPLY TO TEOTOiTOOlf Speech of British Premier j Expected to Indicate the Whole Policy of New ! National Government. PEACE PROPOSAL TO EE TAKEN UP Note of Central Powers De-; i livered to Foreign Office by Ambassador Page Without Comment. LONDON, Deo. IS, 9:50 p. m. The speech of Premier Lloyd George in the house of commous tomorrow is looked forward to by the press and public as the most important utterau.ee of the kind since the memorable speeches in which Viscount Grey discussed whether Great Britain would come into the war. Lloyd George has recovered from his indisposition and was at work today. He will arise to address the commons tomorrow at about 4. o'clock and probably prob-ably will speak for an hour and a half. The prime minister's speech not only will be a reply to the German peace note, but also will outline the whole policy of the new national government, tbe trend of which may be roughly anticipated an-ticipated from tho fact that the new ministry is avowedly in power for the definite object "of carrying on the war with all the vigor the nation can command com-mand to a successful end." Balfour on Vacation. Today's news from government circles cir-cles included the announcement of the departure of Mr. Balfour, the secretary for foreign affairs, for three weeks' vacation. va-cation. Although his vacation comes at an important juncture, the organization of the foreign office permits affairs to proceed uninterruptedly under the direction di-rection of Lord Kobert Cecil and Baron Hardinge, the undersecretaries, while the larger questions of general policy doubtless will receive the attention of the war cabinet, over which the prime minister presides, Lords Curzon and Milner also being members with, wide diplomatic experience. It is recalled that Mr. Balfour's designation des-ignation as foreign minister met with severe criticism from the Northcliffe press, and Lord Northcliffe himself urged Mr. Lloyd George to follow the precedent of Lord Salisbury in directing direct-ing foreign affairs, as well as assuming' the premiership. Whilo Mr. Balfour's! absence is said to be due to indisposi-! tion following illness, and there is no j suggestion 01 its being prolonged be-vond be-vond three weeks, yet it has the. effect of leaving the shaping of the larger policies regarding the German note and other foreign issues largely in the hands of the premier. Peace Note Delivered. The peace note of the central powers was handed to the British government today by Walter H. Page, the American Ameri-can "ambassador. Mr. Page called at ! the foreign office early in the day. In; the absence of A. J. Balfour, the foreign for-eign secretary, he presented the note to Lord Robert Cecil, undersecretary for foreign affairs. The note will be considered by the ! British cabinet tomorrow, it being re-' re-' ceived too late today to enable the ; council to be called. The next step after the meeting of the cabinet will be to get into communication com-munication with the allies of Great Britain, so that joint action may be taken. This is expected to take at least a week. It has been ascertained that the note contains no terms and the impression prevails in official circles that until these are disclosed a conference is impossible. im-possible. Without Comhient. The' presentation of tbe German note to the entente allied government? has now practically beu accomplished. While the British foreign office was receiving the document from Ambassador Ambassa-dor Pa 20 shortly a f ter noon it is believed be-lieved that a similar delivery was taking tak-ing place in Paris. The Swiss minister at Borne has presented pre-sented the note of the central powers to Italy without comment and through the same channel the message was presented pre-sented to Belgium and Portugal, ;i?0 without comment. The Netherlands minister tendered the peace proposals to Serbia in behalf of Bulgaria. Prior to receipt of the note by the foreign office the deliveries to "italv, Belgium and other countries had permitted per-mitted exchanges concerning the exact official content.-), which prove to be substantially as given in the speech made in the reiehstag by Chancellor von Bethmann-Hoilwesj 'and without containing any specific indication of the terms. Tt is also .being observed in official circles that the note was inf nrmail v present e. I without comment. This is taken to indicate that Ger:i.anv framed i the communication so that the ne-tra' I (Continued on Fae Two.) LLOYD GEORGE TO H REPLY TODAY , (Continued from Page One.) mediarins vvo;;M a--t only as forwarding a-.'-its, at k-at at the outset. , It Ls understood the assertion made in the i.crmnn note that the war was forced upon Germany "will not be permitted to 'o u nchuliend and that, as a matt-r of historical record, Ger- i manv's part in tne events leading to the war will he clearly shown. What is termed by Briti.-h cfrioiuU as Germany's method of conducting war against a (dvilkm por.itlation, women and children, chil-dren, particularly in the recent Btdiiiau dr-jtortatiuus, also is likely to be pointed point-ed out. ! .-Wording to the latest advices reach- ing the entente allied governments, the number of Belgians deported has reached 1-20,00'". While the note as presented makes no reference to a eor-ference, there continue con-tinue to be indications that Germany is seeking a conference. This has led to a careful scrutiny of the last precedent, that of the conference confer-ence pending the peace Congress at the close of the Crimean war. A preliminary prelimi-nary conference was held at Vienna in 1S"4 and proved abortive, but when the peace congress which finally settled the terms was held at Paris a year later fhe discussions at the conference served largelv as a basis. The" Westminster Gazette, which all along has held strongly to the opinion that the German peace proposal should receive a serious reply, commenting today to-day on the statement 'that the note contains con-tains no terms, says: "If the German 'note contains no details de-tails and is merely a repetition of Chancellor Chan-cellor von Bethmann-Hollweg rs speech in the reichstag the prospect of any immediate im-mediate result is exceedingly slight." |