President Wilson already has indicated that he believes that the final
reckoning of the war should be made in a conference of the European
powers, and it would be the function of the United States to preside at
such a conference if its services as a mediator were accepted.
Various reports were current today that Germany had named several
conditions under which she would make peace, that she had refused
proposals to alter the territorial status of her empire and possessions,
and would cede no territory or dismantle her fleet, but it was said
authoritatively that nothing of this character was contained in any of
the messages from Berlin to the American Government.
A statement made at the White House today was the first authoritative
acknowledgment that any inquiry on the subject of Germany's attitude
concerning peace had been made by the United States. Officials
heretofore have maintained silence in regard to the effort made by the
Government to get at the bottom of the expression in favor of peace
reported to have been made by the German Emperor to the Imperial
Chancellor and mentioned in a private conversation in New York by Count
von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador to the United States.
What was said by Count von Bernstorff in that conversation brought Oscar
S.
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