The Inside Story of the Peace Conference Part 15

[145] At the close of August, 1916.

[146] I was one of those who at the time maintained that even in the Allies' interests Rumania ought not to enter the war at that conjuncture, and antic.i.p.ation of that invasion was one of the reasons I adduced.

[147] Also known by the German name of Theiss.

[148] Cf. _Le Temps_, July 28, 1919.

[149] Cf. _The Daily Mail_ (Paris edition), September 5, 1919.

[150] On June 13, 1919.

[151] On July 11, 1919, some days later, the decision was suspended, owing to the opinion of General Bliss, who disagreed with Foch.

[152] On July 17, 1919.

[153] On July 20th.

[154] Estimated at 85,000.

[155] Moritz Kuhn, who altered his name to Bela Kuhn, was a vulgar criminal. Expelled from school for larceny, he underwent several terms of imprisonment, and is alleged to have pilfered from a fellow-prisoner.

Even among some thieves there is no honor.

[156] Italy was represented by Lieutenant-Colonel Romanelli, who resided in Budapest; Britain, by Col. Sir Thomas Cunningham, who was in Vienna, as was also Prince Livio Borghese. Later on the Powers delegated generals to be members of a military mission to the Hungarian capital.

[157] At Bruck.

[158] On July 20th.

[159] _Le Journal des Debats_, August 4, 1919.

[160] This is a larger proportion than was left to the Germans by the Treaty of Versailles.

[161] _Le Temps_, July 8, 1919.

[162] It was the habitual practice of the Conference to intrust missions abroad to generals who knew nothing whatever about the countries to which they were sent.

[163] _Le Temps_, August 8, 1919.

[164] Armistice of November 13, 1918, which had become void.

[165] On June 13, 1919.

[166] Composed of four members, one each for Britain, the United States, France, and Italy.

[167] On July 20th.

[168] Paris journals ascribed it to Mr. Balfour, although it does not bear the hall-mark of a diplomatist.

[169] _Le Journal des Debats_, August 13, 1919.

[170] Pertinax in _L'Echo de Paris_, August 10, 1919.

[171] _The New York Herald_ (Paris edition), August 10, 1919.

[172] _Le Journal des Debats_, August 13, 1919. Article by Auguste Gauvain.

[173] General Gorton is the one who is said to have despatched the telegram.

[174] In the beginning of September, 1919.

[175] The French government having prudently refused to furnish an envoy, the British chose Sir George Clark.

[176] On June 10, 1919.

[177] The actors in this episode were not all officers and civil servants. They included some men in responsible positions.

[178] In Teschen.

[179] On Friday, April 18, 1919.

[180] The Rumanians, on the contrary, had been ordered to keep to the old conditions, although they, too, had lost their force.

[181] That is exactly what happened in the end. But the delegates would not believe it until it became an accomplished fact.

[182] About twenty-five thousand had already left France.

[183] The Ruthenians, Ukrainians, and Little Russians are racially the same people, just as those who speak German in northwestern Germany, Dutch in Holland, and Flemish in Belgium are racially close kindred. The main distinctions between the members of each branch are political.

[184] The Messrs. Wilson, George, Clemenceau, Barons Makino and Sonnino.

M. Clemenceau was the nominal chairman, but in reality it was President Wilson who conducted the proceedings.

[185] Bomst is a canton in the former Province (Regierungs-besirk) of Posen, with about sixty thousand inhabitants.

[186] Minutes of this conversation exist.

[187] An interesting Russian tribe, dwelling chiefly in the provinces of Minsk and Grodno (excepting the extreme south), a small part of Suvalki, Vilna (excepting the northwest corner), the entire provinces of Vitebsk and Moghileff, the west part of Smolensk, and a few districts of Tshernigoff.

[188] La Societe des etudes Politiques. The discourse in question was printed and published.

[189] In Germany and Russia the same view was generally taken of the motives that actuated the policy of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The most elaborate attempt to demonstrate its correctness was made by Cr. Bunke, in _The Dantziger Neueste Nachrichten_, already mentioned in this book.

VII

POLAND'S OUTLOOK IN THE FUTURE