The formal end of the world-war was reached at twelve minutes past three on Saturday afternoon, when the German delegates signed the Peace Treaty in the splendid Hall of Mirrors, where the German Empire was proclaimed.
The German delegates, led by Herr Hermann Muller, the Foreign Minister, signed first on the invitation of M. Clemenceau, and were followed by the representatives of 26 Allied and Associated nations in alphabetical order.
The Chinese alone among the belligerent Powers withheld their signature from the treaty. Their request that the question of Shantung should be left open was renewed on Saturday morning without success. China's delegates accordingly did not go to Versailles.
In the face of the assumption in many quarters of ╥mental reservations╙ on the part of the Germans in accepting the treaty, it is memorable that the two German signatories made a joint statement at Versaille contradicting this imputation. ╥We are signing,╙ they said, ╥without mental reservation, and what we are signing we will carry out.╙
The Blockade.
The blockade will be raised immediately after the ratification of the treaty by Germany.
President Wilson, in a message to the American people, describes the treaty as the ╥great charter of the new order of affairs, giving ground for deep satisfaction and universal reassurance.╙
A notable manifesto has been issued by General Smuts, one of the signatories to the treaty. The promise of the new era, he declares, is not written in the treaty, but will lie in the Christian spirit modifying its provisions. The treaty, however, recorded two great achievements: the destruction of Prussian militarism and the foundation of the League of Nations.
