54 THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE ch,

Government has agreed." At the end of this Notethe President hinted more openly than in that ofOctober 14 at the abdication of the Kaiser. Thiscompletes the preliminary negotiations to which thePresident alone was a party, acting without theGovernments of the Allied Powers.

On November 5,1918, the President transmitted toGermany the reply he had received from the Govern-ments associated with him, and added that MarshalFoch had been authorised to communicate the termsof an armistice to properly accredited representatives.In this reply the Allied Governments, " subject to thequalifications which follow, declare their willingnessto make peace with the Government of Germany onthe terms of peace laid down in the President'sAddress to Congress of January 8, 1918, and theprinciples of settlement enunciated in his subsequentAddresses." The qualifications in question were twoin number. The first related to the Freedom of theSeas, as to which they " reserved to themselves com-plete freedom." The second related to Reparationand ran as follows :—" Further, in the conditions ofpeace laid down in his Address to Congress on the 8thJanuary 1918, the President declared that invadedterritories must be restored as well as evacuated andmade free. The Allied Governments feel that nodoubt ought to be allowed to exist as to what thisprovision implies. By it they understand that com-pensation will be made by Germany for all damage