Disarmament, the establishment of courts of arbitration under international control: that, according to my idea, would present an acceptable basis.

I mentioned my fears that the Entente rulers in this, as in the territorial question, would not mete out the same measure to themselves as they intended for us, and unless I had some guarantee in the matter I should not be in a position to carry the plan through here and with our Allies; anyhow, it would be worth a trial.
Long and frequent were the debates on the Central European question, which was the Entente's terror, as it implied an unlimited increase in Germany's power.

In Paris and London it would presumably be preferred that the Monarchy should be made independent of Germany, and any further advances to Berlin on the part of Vienna checked.

We rejoined that to us this was not a new Entente standpoint, but that the mutilation caused by the resolutions of the Pact of London forced us to investigate the matter.

Apart from the question of honour and duty to the Alliance, as matters now stood, Germany was fighting almost more for us than for herself.