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each Government's appreciation of its own wants, which are naturally given greater importance than the wants of other Governments. By a general survey of the whole situation and a free discussion of the needs of all the approaching conference will undoubtedly be able to give to the demands of the several Governments their true perspective and proper place in the general plan for the conduct of the war.

Though the resources of this country are vast and though there is every purpose to devote them all, if need be, to winning the war, they are not without limit. But even if they were greater, they should be used to the highest advantage in attaining the supreme object for which we are fighting. This can only be done by a full and frank discussion of the plans and needs of the various belligerents. It is the earnest wish of this Government to employ its military and naval forces and its resources and energies where they will give the greatest returns in advancing the common cause. The exchange of views which will take place at the conference and the conclusions which will be reached will be of the highest value in preventing waste of energy and in bringing into harmony the activities of the nations which have been unavoidably acting in a measure independently.

In looking forward to the assembling of the conference it can not be too strongly emphasized that it is a war conference and nothing else, devoted to devising ways and means to intensify the efforts of the belligerents against Germany by complete co-operation under a general plan, and thus bring the conflict to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.

II. STATEMENT OF PAUL PAINlevé, Premier, in the French PARLIAMENT, NOVEMBER 13, 1917

The grave events which have taken place in the last few weeks impose on the Government the duty of submitting this declaration to both Chambers.

On the one hand, the extremists in Petrograd have temporarily made themselves masters of the city, and although the latest news gives ground for thinking that the provisional Government has been able to re-establish its authority, the effects of such a shock will continue to be felt for some time.

On the other hand, the relative freedom which the Russian armies are leaving to the German armies on the eastern front is allowing the latter to detach a certain number of divisions against Italy. The Italian northeastern front has been broken in in circumstances which remain

obscure. The second Italian army, which some weeks earlier gained a brilliant victory on the Bainsizza plateau, has suffered considerable losses in a grievous retreat, and Venetia has been opened to invasion. This grave and unexpected situation called for immediate measures.

At the very earliest moment and without awaiting any appeal, French troops hurried up and took their place upon the Italian front with a precision and rapidity which filled all those who had the opportunity of witnessing it with admiration. To-day it is the British contingents that are spreading out beyond the Alps. The measures taken cannot be better summed up than in the statement that from the very first moment when the gravity of the situation became manifest not a moment was lost. It was a fresh opportunity for the stout-heartedness and clear judgment of the nations to display themselves. Neither at the front nor at the rear was a word of recrimination raised because France, herself still invaded, was sending thousands of her children beyond the Alps. Everyone understood that in acting thus she was not only fulfilling loyally and spiritedly her duties as an Ally, but that, by giving her soldiers to fight in those parts of Italy where every name recalls some glorious victory, she was defending the outposts of her own frontiers.

Such events emphasize better than any theoretical reasoning the magnitude of the duties faced by the nations whose armies have charge of the vast western front, stretching from the North Sea to the Adriatic. They can fulfil their immense task only by close union in their plans, by a thorough inter-connection between their armies, by the pooling and harmonious adjustment of all their resources. The Government program which Parliament approved two months ago declared, in speaking of the country's Allies:

"Combatants of yesterday or to-day, drawn together by the same sacred cause, they must act as if they constituted a single nation, a single army, a single front. Since the defeat of any one of them would be the defeat of all, and since victory would be the victory of all, they should put their men, their armies, and their money into a common stock.” 1

That program we have from the outset done our utmost to realize. To it we have devoted all our efforts; for on its realization victory depends. These last few weeks have only made our duty more urgent.

And now I come to the results we have obtained. In order to realize unity of military action, Great Britain, France and Italy have agreed on the establishment of an interallied committee, which will be known as the Supreme War Council [Conseil supérieure de guerre]. We have no 'Journal officiel. Chambre des députés. September 18, 1917, 2323.

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doubt that the United States, whose troops are called to fight upon the same front, will give this council its adhesion. As regards the other fronts, further negotiations will be conducted with Russia and Japan.

PURPOSE OF THE COUNCIL

The purpose of the council is not to direct military operations in detail but to shape the general policy of the war and the general plans of the Allies by adapting them to the resources and means available in such manner as to insure those means yielding the best results. It is to comprise two representatives of each Government and to meet normally in France at least once a month. It will rely upon the permanent interallied general staff, which will be both its central intelligence organ and its technical adviser. The decisions of such a council can have no tinge of particularism. They will embrace the field of battle as a whole. They will be subject to ratification by the respective Governments, and already we hear the objection: "What we want is a single command, and not a consultative committee."

No plan escapes criticism, and I am far from saying that ours constitutes the last step in the line of the progress that has to be made, but in such matters the wisest course is to realize immediately what is possible without making the attainment of the best an excuse for waiting for months without achieving anything.

If unity of command is one day possible, and is really efficacious, its exercise will require just such an interallied general staff as has now been created. Perhaps even the working of the Supreme War Council will lead to the institution of that unity of command without its being so called, which is better than having the word without having the thing.

In fact, the creation of this Supreme War Council is regarded by the British and Italian Governments as an immense step forward, which others may follow. The language of their whole press shows that the Italians have derived from this new creation a big source of comfort and enthusiasm, while the judgment of the British may be summed up in Mr. Lloyd George's dictum: "The war has been prolonged by sectionalism; it will be shortened by solidarity."

Another problem in the military domain which urgently calls for the attention of Parliament is that of the extension of the British front.

A preliminary agreement has just been reached between the two commanders-in-chief, with the authority of the two Governments, and

will be carried out at a very early date which it would be inadvisable to specify.

Besides this, the victory on the Aisne, one of the most brilliant of this war, by its rectification of our front and its improvement of our positions places some divisions at our disposal.

But every one in this house understands that at such a time and in the face of the military developments now taking place there can be no question of removing fresh classes from the front.

Germany is attempting a desperate effort with all her available forces to obtain before the end of the year a showy victory, which she might hope would be decisive. This supreme effort of the enemy must be met by a supreme effort on the part of France and her Allies without abandoning a scrap of our military strength.

COMMON FOOD SUPPLIES

But it is not only in the military domain; it is in every domain, and in particular in the economic domain, that the Government has endeavored to realize a systematic co-ordination and complete solidarity with our Allies. The negotiations which we have just been conducting with the British Government aimed at assuring a full and regular co-operation between the two Governments for the provisioning of both countries, as well as of Italy and of our European Allies. Great Britain and France have arrived at a complete agreement, which will be put into execution at once. In virtue of this agreement, the allied countries will in future constitute but a single country from the point of view of food supplies and imports indispensable to their existence.

Great Britain has never hesitated before the division of resources, which she regards as one of the essential duties of the alliance, but hitherto the measures taken have been provisional measures for immediate aid. The agreement arrived at for the future replaces such immediate aid, given to meet an imminent danger, by the common execution of a concerted program, thanks to which, provided we discipline ourselves and are ready to impose upon ourselves the same sacrifices and restrictions as our Ally is going to impose upon herself, all fear of a crisis suddenly yawning before us will be averted in advance. The country must make up its mind that these restrictions are indispensable if the necessary tonnage is to be freed for the transport of American troops in great numbers.

The collaboration of the Government of the United States is indispensable to the development of this policy of co-operation, which is imposed

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by events. Everybody knows the daily efforts of the federal Government, under the direction of President Wilson, to bring to the Allies and especially to France not only the military but the economic aid of the great American nation. We are certain that the next interallied conference, to which America has specially delegated Colonel House as its eminent representative, will contribute to the final realization of unity of action in the economic and financial fields.1 . . .

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At a conference held in Paris March 27-28, 1916, the representatives of the allied Governments affirmed "the entire community of views and solidarity of the Allies," by which they meant, besides military and diplomatic unity, "diplomatic unity of action, which is guaranteed by their unshakable determination to pursue the struggle to the victory of their common cause."

An editorial in the London Times, September 20, 1918, suggested the creation of a diplomatic council-"a sort of political Versailles"-to give unity of political command under the Supreme War Council. This suggestion drew forth discussion. The writer signing himself "Pertinax" in the Echo de Paris said:

"A Government can pool its armies, ships, economic resources and so on. It cannot altogether alienate its freedom of judgment, cannot withdraw from the daily changing influence of public opinion. Do what one may, there are certain decisions which will never be taken at Versailles. To ignore this would be to defeat the end in view. The innovation should be confined to:

"1. More frequent meetings between allied ministers.

"2. The participation by American plenipotentiaries in these meetings, a measure which Mr. Wilson has hitherto declined to take.

"3. The creation of offices for the centralization of all information received by the various Governments concerning current events, thus assuring that, if the decisions are not everywhere

1 Translated from Journal officiel, Chambre des députés. Séance du 13 Novembre 1917, 2940-2942; ibid., Sénat, 978–979.

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