EMPEROR KARL'S LETTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14608, 18 May 1918, Page 3

EMPEROR KARL'S LETTER.

DELICATE QUESTION" €'F INTERNATIONAL, POLICY. QUESTION OP ALSACE-LORRAINE. IReuter's Telegrram.) LONDON, May 16. In the House of Commons, Mr.' Runciman asked was the; Emperor Karl's letter quoted by M. Clemenceau on April 9th communicated to the other Allies? Did Mi". Lloyd George inform tli3 Foreign Office aft the time that such letter was shown to him and was the subject dropped because France wanted the AlsaceLorraine of 1814 or even of 1790? Mr. Balfour replieid that there was ;i tendency to treat this subject as if it concerned Britain alone. It was really a delicate question of international police and could not ba discussed as a domestic matter. This was a private letter written by Karl to a relative. This was conveyed " by the latter to the French Government under seal of strictest secrecy, and without permission to communicate it to anyone m Britain except Mr. Lloyd George and the Sovereign. This was an inconvenient way to deal with a great transaction, but it was not the fault of tha British Government. Mr. Balfour added that the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine of 1814 or 1790 had never been an Allied war aim. Mr. Runciman must be referring to a conversation between the Czar and the French representative early m 1917, which was unknown to the British Government until much later, and which had no international bearing and m no way pledged tha British Government. ' Proceeding, Mr. Balfour said it was impossible to know what actuated Karl, Czernin, and the Kaiser. These transactions, he wa9" inclined to think, were part of a peace offensive, with the object of dividing Germany's opponents. Mr.' Balfour added : M. Clemencoan dealt effectively with these cynical methods by publishing the Emperor Karl's letter. The French Chamber ha? already concluded that the letter did not provide an adequate or satisfactory basis for peace, and the House of Common* might well be content with that verdict. Nobody is more desirous than the British Government to bring the war to an honorable termination, and if any method whereby that could be accomplished' is shown to us it will be accepted. There is no evidence now or at any timn that the German Government or classes contemplated the possibility of what we should regard as a reasonable peace.