30 DECEMBER 1916, Page 2

Mr. Wilson cannot really mean that, but he says it,

and in saying it he has amazed and distressed- the British. and French peoples. We may, and do, think their alarm quiteunnecessary, but we cannot because of our own feeling pretend to ignore a fact as obvious as it is regrettable. He goes- on to assert that the United States are deeply interested in what may happen after the war, and that they fear " lest the situation of neutral nations, now exceedingly hard to endure, be rendered altogether intolerable." The war has affected the whole world, " and yet the concrete objects- for which it is being waged have never been definitely stated." " Never yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either aide avowed the precise objects which would, if attained, satisfy them and their people that the war had • been fought out." The Note ends with " a confident hope " for a response bringing " a new light into the affairs of the world."