5 JANUARY 1918, Page 10

Count Czernin went on to say that, subject always to

the governing condition of an Allied surrender to the German formula, the enemy did not mean " to appropriate forcibly " the occupied territories, or to " rob of their independence " the little nations that have been temporarily overwhelmed.. As for the small nationalities within States, like the Czechs or Southern Slays, each State must be left to deal with them. The enemy recognized the right of minorities or the right of peoples to self-determination " so far as it is practically realizable." The enemy agreed, readily enough, that there should be no indemnities even for war damage. Germany would in no case agree to surrender her lost colonies. The Anarchist delegates then asked for a delay of ten days in the general negotiations, so that the Allied peoples might have an opportunity of studying the rival proposals. They protested against the enemy's refusal to do anything for the small nationalities in their • own territories.