that all the world may know that even in the heat and ardor of the struggle and when our whole thought is of carrying the war through to its end we have not forgotten any ideal or principle for which the name of America has been held in honor among the nations and for which it has been our glory to contend in the great generations that went before us. A supreme moment of history has come. The eyes of the people have been opened and they see. The hand of God is laid upon the nations. He will show them favor, I devoutly believe, only if they rise to the clear heights of His own justice and mercy.

ADDRESS ON THE CONDITIONS OF PEACE DELIVERED AT A JOINT SESSION OF THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, JANUARY 8, 1918

The Czar of Russia was, to the outward world at least, unexpectedly forced to abdicate on March 15, 1917. Two days later his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, in whose favor he had abdicated, renounced whatever title the late Czar had to convey. A provisional government was formed, which was recognized by the United States on March 22, which, with various changes, maintained itself in power, pursuing a checkered course between the extreme radicals and socialists, on the one hand, and what might be called the conservative or moderate party, on the other.

On November 7, 1917, the radical elements of the socialist party, called Bolsheviki (meaning the majority party), led by Nikolai Lenine, who had united under his leadership the extreme elements, came into power and immediately made overtures for an armistice and a peace with Germany and its allies, inviting the other belligerents to do likewise and stating the conditions upon which a general peace should be made. An armistice was concluded with Germany and its allies on December 15, 1917, to last to January 14, 1918, and two days before its expiration a further armistice was agreed upon for a month. Representatives of the Bolshevist government met representatives of Germany and its allies at Brest-Litovsk to discuss the terms of peace.

Germany's enemies, however, refused to consider the terms stated by the Bolshevik government, and on January 5, 1918, during the Russo-German negotiations, Mr. Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain, delivered an address before the Labor Conference on Man-Power in London, in which he outlined, after consulting the self-governing dominions of the British Empire, and undoubtedly after an exchange of views with Britain's allies, the terms and conditions of peace which Great Britain would consider. Three days later, under these circumstances, when Russia had withdrawn from the war and was in conference with the representatives of Germany and its allies, and after Mr. Lloyd George had stated the terms and conditions of peace as they appeared to a European statesman, President Wilson, on January 8, 1918, delivered the following address, in which, after paying particular attention to the Russian situation and expressing sympathy for the Russian people in the crisis through which they were passing, he announced his agreement with the aims and purposes of the countries allied against Germany, thus showing the allied governments to be in perfect accord.

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:

Once more, as repeatedly before, the spokesmen of the Central Empires have indicated their desire to discuss