This Note,
in speaking of a "decisive victory," had in view a solution of the
problems mentioned in the communication of April 9th, and which
was thus specified:
"The government deems it to be its right and duty to declare now
that free Russia does not aim at the domination of other nations,
or at depriving them of their national patrimony, or at occupying
by force foreign territories, but that its object is to establish
a durable peace on the basis of the rights of nations to decide
their own destiny.
"The Russian nation does not lust after the strengthening of its
power abroad at the expense of other nations. Its aim is not to
subjugate or humiliate any one. In the name of the higher
principles of equity, the Russian people have broken the chains
which fettered the Polish nation, but it will not suffer that its
own country shall emerge from the great struggle humiliated or
weakened in its vital forces.
"In referring to the 'penalties and guarantees' essential to a
durable peace, the Provisional Government had in view the
reduction of armaments, the establishment of international
tribunals, etc.
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