But though we are convinced that the Allies, severally and
collectively, were absolutely right in refusing to enter into the negotiations to which they were invited in so sinister a document as the German Note, we are equally convinced, as we have pointed out at length elsewhere, that the time has come when the Allies in frank converse among th mselves should lay down the terms on which at this moment they are prepared to grant peace to Germany, but always with, the proviso that those tcrms can never grow less hard but must grow harder if the Germans reject them and force us to prolong the war. Some months ago we sketched those terms in outline, and we mean later to return to them in detail. For the moment it is enough to say that the terms can be expressed in three words : Reparatim---Security—Guarantees.
