20 JANUARY 1917, Page 2

The Allies go on to say that they are fully

alive to the losses and suffering which the war causes neutrals as well as belligerents, but they cannot hold themselves responsible, since they did not desire or provoke the war. The Allied Governments next make a firm though perfectly polite protest against the establishment in the American Note of a likeness between the two belligerent groups. Such a likeness conflicts directly with the evidence both as regards the responsibility for the past and the guarantees for the future. But, they add, in mentioning this likeness, President Wilson certainly did not mean to associate himself with it.