ABSTRACT
The Supreme War Council gave the most careful consideration to the recent utterances of the German Chancellor and of the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, but was unable to find in them any real approximation to the moderate conditions laid down by all the Allied Governments. Lloyd George told author that Ribot had arranged with the Italian Government for a meeting of Ministers on the Franco-Italian frontier to discuss the matter. Lloyd George at once caught on to this belated idea and on Christmas Day, 1917, when the Central Powers published an account of their preliminary peace negotiations with the Russians, he decided to take action. The effect on the enemy, however, was not what people had hoped, for on January 24th the German Chancellor Hertling and Czernin, the Austrian Foreign Minister, made public replies, which banged the door on any hope of peace negotiations.
