《The Fourteen Points Speech by Woodrow Wilson》.doc

Fourteen Points Speech　 　Once more， as repeatedly before， the spokesmen of the Central Empires have indicated their desire to discuss the objects of the war and the possible basis of a general peace． Parleys have been in progress at Brest－Litovsk between Russian representatives and representatives of the Central Powers to which the attention of all the belligerents has been invited for the purpose of ascertaining whether it may be possible to extend these parleys into a general conference with regard to terms of peace and settlement． 　　The Russian representatives presented not only a perfectly definite statement of the principles upon which they would be willing to conclude peace， but also an equally definite program of the concrete application of those principles． The representatives of the Central Powers， on their part， presented an outline of settlement which， if much less definite， seemed susceptible of liberal interpretation until their specific program of practical terms was added． That program proposed no concessions at all， either to the sovereignty of Russia or to the preferences of the populations with whose fortunes it dealt， but meant， in a word， that the Central Empires were to keep every foot of territory their armed forces had occupied－－every province， every city， every point of vantage as a permanent addition to their territories and their power． 　　It is a reasonable conjecture that the general principles of settlement which they at first suggested originated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and Austria， the men who have begun to feel the force of their own peoples thought and purpose， while the concrete terms of actual settlement came from the military leaders who have no thought but to keep what they have got． The 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． It is also full of perple