“December 22, 1917.—­The forenoon was devoted to the first discussion among the Allies, the principles just referred to as discussed with Kuehlmann being then academically laid down.  In the afternoon the first plenary sitting took place, the proceedings being opened by the Prince of Bavaria and then led by Dr. Kuehlmann.  It was decided that the Powers should take it in turns to preside, in order of the Latin alphabet as to their names, i.e.  Allemagne, Autriche, etc.  Dr. Kuehlmann requested Hr.  Joffe to tell us the principles on which he considered a future peace should be based, and the Russian delegate then went through the six main tenets already familiar from the newspapers.  The proposal was noted, and we undertook to give a reply as early as possible after having discussed the matter among ourselves.  These, then, were the proceedings of the first brief sitting of the peace congress.

“December 23, 1917.—­Kuehlmann and I prepared our answer early.  It will be generally known from the newspaper reports.  It cost us much heavy work to get it done.  Kuehlmann is personally an advocate of general peace, but fears the influence of the military party, who do not wish to make peace until definitely victorious.  But at last it is done.  Then there were further difficulties with the Turks.  They declared that they must insist on one thing, to wit, that the Russian troops should be withdrawn from the Caucasus immediately on the conclusion of peace, a proposal to which the Germans would not agree, as this would obviously mean that they would have to evacuate Poland, Courland, and Lithuania at the same time, to which Germany would never consent.  After a hard struggle and repeated efforts, we at last succeeded in persuading the Turks to give up this demand.  The second Turkish objection was that Russia had not sufficiently clearly declared its intention of refraining from all interference in internal affairs.  But the Turkish Foreign Minister agreed that internal affairs in Austria-Hungary were an even more perilous sphere for Russian intrigues than were the Turkish; if I had no hesitation in accepting, he also could be content.

“The Bulgarians, who are represented by Popow, the Minister of Justice, as their chief, and some of whom cannot speak German at all, some hardly any French, did not get any proper idea of the whole proceedings until later on, and postponed their decision until the 24th.

“December 24, 1917.—­Morning and afternoon, long conferences with the Bulgarians, in the course of which Kuehlmann and I on the one hand and the Bulgarian representatives on the other, were engaged with considerable heat.  The Bulgarian delegates demanded that a clause should be inserted exempting Bulgaria from the no-annexation principle, and providing that the taking over by Bulgaria of Roumanian and Serbian territory should not be regarded as annexation.  Such a clause would, of course, have rendered all