This is _an offer of peace_, for in fourteen points Mr.Wilson sets forth the principles upon which he seeks to establish a general peace.

Obviously, an offer of this nature cannot be expected to furnish a scheme acceptable in every detail.

If that were the case, then negotiations would be superfluous altogether, and peace could be arrived at by a simple acceptance, a single assent.

This, of course, is not so.
"_But I have no hesitation in declaring that these last proposals on the part of President Wilson seem to me considerably nearer the Austro-Hungarian point of view_, and that there are among his proposals some which we can even agree to _with great pleasure_.
"If I may now be allowed to go further into these proposals, I must, to begin with, point out two things: "So far as the proposals are concerned with _our Allies_--mention is made of the German possession of _Belgium_ and of the _Turkish Empire_--I declare that, in fulfilment of our duty to our Allies, I am firmly determined _to hold out in defence of our Allies to the very last.

The pre-war possessions of our Allies we will defend equally with our own_.