either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace-loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world, the new world in which we now live,-instead of a place of mastery.

Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification of her institutions. But it is necessary, we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings with her on our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination.

We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. Unless this principle be made its foundation no part of the structure of international justice can stand. The people of the United States could act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle they are ready to devote their lives, their honor, and everything that they possess. The moral climax of this the culminating and final war for human liberty has come, and they are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test.

REPLY TO THE ADDRESSES OF THE IMPERIAL GERMAN CHANCELLOR, AND THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL AUSTROHUNGARIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT A JOINT SESSION OF THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 11, 1918

In the course of an address delivered on January 24, 1918 before the Reichsrat, Count Czernin, Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, is reported by the Press to have said, explaining the negotiations then in progress with Russia, that while peace could not be matured within twenty-four hours, he was convinced that, "it is now maturing and that the question whether or not an honorable general peace can be secured is merely a question of resistance." Referring to the address of January 8, 1918, he remarked that, President Wilson's peace offer confirms me in this opinion. Naturally an offer of this kind cannot be regarded as a matter acceptable in every detail, for that obviously would render any negotiations superfluous," that he considered, "the recent proposals of President Wilson as an appreciable approach to the Austro-Hungarian point of view, and that to some of them AustriaHungary joyfully and could give her approval," and finally, that, "It is obvious to me that an exchange of views between America and Austria-Hungary might form the starting point for a conciliatory discussion among all the States which have not yet entered into peace negotiations."

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:

On the eighth of January I had the honor of addressing you on the objects of the war as our people conceive them. The Prime Minister of Great Britain had spoken in similar terms on the fifth of January. To these addresses the German Chancellor replied on the twenty-fourth and Count Czernin, for Austria, on