880     THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE, 1919, VOLUME V


manic, Slavonic and Asiatic races, which might eventually sweep the
civilization of Western Europe out of the way. He personally had
never believed in the possibility of the extinction of all traces of
Anglo-Latin civilization from Western Europe, but he thought that
by eliminating the possibility of the maintenance of order in Cen-
tral and Southern Europe, the Council were formulating a possible
scheme to bring this about. The brilliancy of the military glory
which now lightened up certain of these Western nations of Europe
might in reality not be an evidence of health but only the hectic flush
of disease which would eventually result in the downfall of our
strip of Latin and Anglo-Saxon civilization along the Western coast
of Europe.
In conclusion, he wished to lay stress on the fact that the accept-
ance of the figures based on the instructions issued by the Supreme
Council would inevitably reduce these States to a condition of vas-
salage to the Western Powers of the Entente.
MR. LLoTD GEORGE asked General Bliss to state his proposal.
GENERAL Buss replied that his suggestion was that the Council
should accept the figures recommended by the Military Representa-
tives.
PRESIDENT WILSON said that it had been assumed that the Supreme
Council had instructed the Military Representatives to act on the
basis of 15,000 electives for Austria. He himself had never agreed to
that figure and, in fact, he had suggested 20,000. The considerations
which General Bliss had urged were, he thought, very serious and
large, and required to be very carefully considered. In his opinion,
the Supreme Council could not proceed to accept or alter the figure
off-hand. He proposed, therefore, that this question should be re-
served for discussion from a political point of view.
M. CLEMENcEAu associated himself with what President Wilson
had said. He would ask, however, that a copy of General Bliss
speech be circulated so that each of the members of the Supreme
Council might have his remarks before them.
M. ORLANDO agreed. He added that General Bliss's speech had
made a considerable impression on him.
MR. LLOYD GEORGE thought that without doubt the Supreme Coun-
cil would very shortly receive from Germany some protest in regard
to the strength of the authorised forces, which had been fixed at
100,000 men. In his opinion, the Germans would never accept that
figure. At the present moment, he personally was disposed to agree
with General Bliss's statement that 100,000 men would be an inade-
quate force for Germany. He had originally accepted that figure as
a compromise in view of the fact that Marshal Foch had pressed the
matter. The French were the nearest neighbours to Germany, and