that it should be regarded as a basis for peace negotiations. It was anxious to induce Berlin to share this point of view, and in the end the German authorities gave Vienna the assurance that their reply would be identical as regards its contents, but that it would be more guarded in form. In particular, Berlin was not satisfied with the wording of the note on the subject of Belgium and the references to the Franco-German frontiers. Turkey very emphatically declined to consider any discussion about Armenia, and Bulgaria wanted the wording to be without prejudice to the possibility of a later annexation of Macedonia.
At length the Central Powers managed to agree upon the wording of their notes. The replies were separate in order that each country could be free to draw up its note in a manner most acceptable to its respective public. The Austrian and German replies were issued on September 19, 1917, and their reception in the Allied countries was extremely unfavourable. It was considered that they were insincere and that they concealed ideas of annexation. This applied particularly to the German note, which evaded any reference to the Belgian question.
The Vatican itself was highly satisfied with the reply from Vienna, but less so with that from Berlin, partly because the Kaiser himself had not answered. Nevertheless, the Vatican felt most hopeful that the replies would form the basis for further conversations.
The action of the Allies was most characteristic. France and England first of all agreed that they would not reply at all. Accordingly, France took no further steps in the matter, while England merely acknowledged the receipt of the note, and after Wilson’s reply Lord Robert Cecil announced in the House of Commons that England associated herself with America in this respect. In Italy, Sonnino made a speech in the Parliament there on October 24th, 1917, rejecting the note and designating it as expressing the wishes of the Central Powers. In this speech Sonnino also, for the first time, publicly stated what many Catholics had hitherto only thought, namely, that the Pope, although considered as the supreme moral authority of the Catholic world, had never made any public statement as to who was guilty in the war and who not.
The Vatican replied to this rather half-heartedly, first of all in a letter from Cardinal Gasparri to the Bishop of Valencia, and then in an article published by the Osservatore Romano, which was a direct answer to Sonnino. Leaving on one side the
