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A REVISION OF THE TREATY

CHAP.

away a little perhaps by its very close agreement withmy own predictions, as a great triumph, for justicein international affairs. So, in a measure, I stillthink it. The Eeparation Commission went a con-siderable way in disavowing the veracity of theclaims of the Allied Governments. Indeed, theirreduction of the claims for items other than pensionsand allowances must have been very great, sincethe claims for pensions, being capable of more or lessexact calculation, 1 can hardly have been subjectto an initial error of anything approaching 42 percent. If, for example, they reduced the claim forpensions and allowances from 95 to 80 milliards,they must have reduced the other claims from 130milliards to 52 milliards, that is to say, by 60 percent. Yet even so, on the data now available, I donot believe that their adjudication could be main-tained before an impartial tribunal. The figure of104 milliards, attributed by M. Poincare" to Sir JohnBradbury, is probably the nearest we shall get to astrictly impartial assessment.

To complete our summary of the facts twoparticulars must be added. (1) The total, as assessedby the Eeparation Commission, comprehends the• total claim against Germany and her Allies. Itincludes, that is to say, the damage done by thearmies of Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria,

1 The chief question of legitimate controversy in this connection wasthat of the rate of exchange for converting paper francs into gold marks.