Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Lansing Papers, 1914–1920, Volume II

763.72119/717a

The Secretary of State to President Wilson

Washington, August 13, 1917 .

My Dear Mr. President: Sir Cecil³² came to see me Saturday evening and handed me the enclosed appeal by the Pope to the belligerents which he said would soon be issued.³³

My own impression is that this statement of peace terms emanates from Austria-Hungary and is probably sanctioned by the German Government. It is undoubtedly preliminary to the Stockholm Conference.

Faithfully yours,

Robert Lansing

32. Sir Cecil Spring Rice, the British Ambassador.
33. For text of the Pope’s appeal, see Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 2, vol. i, p. 161.