Allied and Associated Powers and the German Government, and that we
entered the Conference with our hands, free, except so far as these
Armistice Terms might bind us. This was not the case. To make the
position plain, it is necessary briefly to review the history, of the
negotiations which began with the German Note of October 5, 1918, and
concluded with President Wilson's Note of November 5, 1918.

On October 5, 1918, the German Government addressed a brief Note to the
President accepting the Fourteen Points and asking for Peace
negotiations. The President's reply of October 8 asked if he was to
understand definitely that the German Government accepted "the terms
laid down" in Fourteen Points and in his subsequent Addresses and "that
its object in entering into discussion would be only to agree upon the
practical details of their application." He added that the evacuation of
invaded territory must be a prior condition of an Armistice. On October
12 the German Government returned an unconditional affirmative to these
questions;-"its object in entering into discussions would be only to
agree upon practical details of the application of these terms." On
October 14, having received this affirmative answer, the President made
a further communication to make clear the points: (1) that the details
of the Armistice would have to be left to the military advisers of the
United States and the Allies, and must provide absolutely against the
possibility of Germany's resuming hostilities; (2) that submarine
warfare must cease if these conversations were to continue; and (3) that
he required further guarantees of the representative character of the
Government with which he was dealing. On October 20 Germany accepted
points (1) and (2), and pointed out, as regards (3), that she now had a
Constitution and a Government dependent for its authority on the
Reichstag. On October 23 the President announced that, "having received
the solemn and explicit assurance of the German Government that it