LATE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 91, 10 January 1918, Page 5

LATE NEWS

PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE

THE BREST LITOVSK CONFERENCE

THE RUSSIANS' CLEAR PROPOSALS

CENTRAL EMPIRES' CHANGE OF CONDITIONS

(Rec. January 10,. 1.55 a.m.) New York, January 8. ■■ President Wilson delivered the following message to Congress:—"Once more, as repeatedly before, tlie spokesman of tho Central Empires has indicated his desire to discuss tho objects of tho war and a possible basis of a. general peace. Parleys have- been in progress at Brest Litovsk between thorepresentatives of the Central Powers, to which the attention of all the belligerents has been invited for_ the purpose of ascertaining whether it is possible to extend the parleys into a general conference. With regard to tho terms of peace and settlement, the Russian representatives presented not only a perfectly definite statement of tho principles upon which they arc willing to conclude- peace, but also an equally definite programme for the concrete application of thoso principles. "The representatives of the Central Powers presented an outline of a settlement which, if. much less definite, seems susceptible of a liberal interpretation, until their specific programme of practical terms was added. That programme proposed no concessions either as to the sovereignty of Russia, or the preference- of the populations with whoso fortunes it dealt, but meant that the Central Empires wero to keep every foot of territory their armed force occupied, every province, every city, and every point of vantage as a permanent addition to their territories and power. It is reasonable to conjecture that the central principles of the settlement which they at first suggested originated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and Austria—men who had begun to feel tho forces of their own peoples' thought and purpose—while the concrete terms of actual settlement came from the military leaders,- who had no thought but to keop what they had got. Tho negotiations have been broken off.

"The Russian representatives were sincere and in earnest. They, cannot entertain such proposals of conquest and domination. The whole incident is full of significance and also full of perplexity. whom are the Russian representatives' dealing? For whom aro the representatives of the Central Empires speaking? Are they speaking for the majorities of their -respectivo Parliaments, or the minority parties, and that military who' are the imperialistic minority which has so far dominated their whole policy and controlled the affairs of Turkey and the Balkan States, which felt obliged to become their associates in this war." —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.