-53- #669, Eighteenth from London              
 
                                                            
 
 
"This was not done because they were men: it was done 
                  because of the nature of man."            
 
      Similarly In this temper we may now shy to our foes "we 
      demand unconditional surrender but you well know how strict are 
      the moral limits within which our action is confined. We are 
      no extirpators of nations or butchers of peoples. We make no 
      bargain with you. We accord you nothing as a right. Abandon your 
      resistance unconditionally. We remain bound by our customs and 
                           our nature".                     
 
      There is another reason why any abrogation of the principle of 
      unconditional surrender would be most improvident at the present 
      time and it is a reason by no means inconsistent with or contradictory 
      to that which I have just given. We should have to discuss with 
      the enemy while they still remained with arms in their hands 
      all the painful details of the settlement which their indescribable 
      crimes have made necessary for the future safety of Europe and 
      of the world and these when recited in detail might well become 
      a greater obstacle to the end of the struggle than the broad 
      generalization which the term "unconditional surrender" 
                             implies.                       
 
                                                            
 
 
The Germans know perfectly well how these matters stand in 
      general. Several countries have already surrendered unconditionally/to 
      the victorious Allies to Russia to Britain and the United States. 
      Already there is