“It is the wish of the Supreme Council,” the chairman began, “that Poland should conclude an armistice with the Ruthenians, and under new conditions, the old ones having lost their force.[180] Are you prepared to submit your proposals?” “This is a military matter,” replied the Polish delegate, “and should be dealt with by experts.  One of our most competent military authorities will arrive shortly in Paris with full powers to treat with you on the subject.  In the meantime, I agree that the old conditions are obsolete and must be changed.  I can also mention three provisos without which no armistice is possible:  (1) The Poles must be permitted to get into permanent contact with Rumania.  That involves their occupation of eastern Galicia.  The principal grounds for this demand are that our frontier includes that territory and that the Rumanians are a law-abiding, pacific people whose interests never clash with ours and whose main enemy—­Bolshevism—­is also ours. (2) The Allies shall purge the Ukrainian army of the Bolshevists, German and other dangerous elements that now pervade it and render peace impossible. (3) The Poles must have control of the oil-fields were it only because these are now being treated as military resources and the Germans are receiving from Galicia, which contains the only supplies now open to them, all the oil they require and are giving the Ruthenians munitions in return, thus perpetuating a continuous state of warfare.  You can realize that we are unwilling to have our oil-fields employed to supply our enemies with war material against ourselves.”  General Botha asked, “Would you be satisfied if, instead of occupying all eastern Galicia at once in order to get into touch with the Rumanians, the latter were to advance to meet you?” “Quite.  That would satisfy us as a provisional measure.”  “But now suppose that the Supreme Council rejects your three conditions—­a probable contingency—–­ what course do you propose to take?” “In that case our action would be swayed by events, one of which is the hostility of the Ruthenians, which would necessitate measures of self-defense and the use of our army.  And that would bring back the whole issue to the point where it stands to-day."[181] To the suggestions made by the Polish delegate that the question of the armistice be referred to Marshal Foch, the answer was returned that the Marshal’s views carried no authority with the Supreme Council.

General Botha, thereupon adopting an emotional tone, said:  “I have one last appeal to make to you.  It behooves Poland to lift the question from its present petty surroundings and set it in the larger frame of world issues.  What we are aiming at is the overthrow of militarism and the cessation of bloodshed.  As a civilized nation Poland must surely see eye to eye with the Supreme Council how incumbent it is on the Allies to put a stop to the misery that warfare has brought down on the world and is now inflicting on the populations of Poland and eastern Galicia.”  “Truly,” replied the Polish delegate, “and so thoroughly does she realize it that it is repugnant to her to be satisfied with a sham peace, a mere pause during which a bloodier war may be organized.  We want a settlement that really connotes peace, and our intimate knowledge of the circumstances enables us to distinguish between that and a mere truce.  That is the ground of our insistence.”