V

REPARATION

105

reply to the German observations on the first draftof the Treaty , where it is admitted that the terms ofthe Reparation Chapter must be governed by thePresident's Note of November 5.

Assuming then that the terms of this Noteare binding, we are left to elucidate the preciseforce of the phrase —" all damage done to thecivilian population of the Allies and to theirproperty by the aggression of Germany by land, bysea, and from the air." Few sentences in historyhave given so much work to the sophists and thelawyers, as we shall see in the next section of thischapter, as this apparently simple and unambiguousstatement. Some have not scrupled to argue that itcovers the entire cost of the war; for, they pointout, the entire cost of the war has to be metby taxation, and such taxation is " damaging tothe civilian population." They admit that thephrase is cumbrous, and that it would have beensimpler to have said <£ all loss and expenditure ofwhatever description"; and they allow that theapparent emphasis on damage to the persons andproperty of civilians is unfortunate; but errors ofdraftsmanship should not, in their opinion, shut offthe Allies from the rights inherent in victors.

But there are not only the limitations of thephrase in its natural meaning and the emphasis oncivilian damages as distinct from military expendi-ture generally ; it must also be remembered that the