136 A REVISION OF THE TREATY chap.

to appeal, the other way round, to the principleswhich do duty when Propaganda is blistering herdemotion with its brew of passion, sentiment, self-interest, and moral fiddlesticks.

But whilst I see that nothing rare has happenedand that men's motives are much as usual, I do stillthink that this particular act was an exceptionallymean one, made worse by hypocritical professionsof moral purpose. My object in returning to it ispartly historical and partly practical. New materialof high interest is available to instruct us about thecourse of events. And if for practical reasons we canagree to drop this claim, we shall make a settlementeasier.

Those who think that it was contrary to the Allies 'engagements to charge pensions against the enemybase this opinion on the terms notified to the GermanGovernment by President Wilson , with the authorityof the Allies , on November 5, 1918, subject to whichGermany accepted the Armistice conditions. 1 Thecontrary opinion that the Allies were fully entitledto charge pensions if they considered it expedientto do so, has been supported by two distinct lines ofargument: first that the Armistice conditions ofNovember 11, 1918, were not subject to PresidentWilson' s notification of November 5, 1918, but

1 I have given the exact text of the relevant passages in The EconomicConsequences of the Peace, chapter v.