and international treaties for the
protection of inland and maritime boundaries.

Of these the demands under 1 and 2 are certainly
in their principle quite reasonable, and if it
comes to actual and exact formulation are apt to
lead to a fair agreement.

The demands under 3 are partly on principle also
unobjectionable, whilst some, as e.g., the cession
of the Polish provinces of Prussia to a Polish
state under Russian tutelage or the cession of the
European vilayets of Turkey to Russia or some
newly created community under Russian tutelage,
can hardly be supported by reasonable argument in
the face of the fact that they could only be
carried out by dictation after a complete and
crushing victory of the Allies over the Central
Powers. That is to say, after a prolonged war more
murderous and more embittered than that behind us.
It is to be expected that public discussion will
in regard to demands of this nature create an
opinion resulting in their reduction if not
disappearance. What is reasonable in them falls
either under number 3, letter "a," or under
numbers 4 and 5.

Now as regards the demands under 4 and 5, the
settlement of most of them belongs rightly to an
International Conference of all the nations. In
their good and efficient regulation all are
interested. They are also of the greatest concern
to the future of mankind as a whole. The demands
or questions can as regards their general
character also be divided under three other heads,
viz.:

Firstly, questions of justice to nations or
nationalities as political or sociological
entities,

Secondly, questions of the most expedient
settlement of disputes between individual Powers
or groups of such where no fundamental principles
of nationality or similar rights are concerned,
and

Thirdly, questions which concern all the nations
through their common interest in general security
and protection against the disturbance of
international peace and traffic.

Both the Allies and the Central Powers agree to
the idea of settling these latter questions in a
better way than before; i.e., by an International
League of the Nations to enforce peace. But both
want the creation of this League to be settled
afte