The record, in so far as it is relevant to this point, may be summarized as follows:[98] M. Clemenceau called attention to the absence of any reference in the first draft of the Armistice Terms to the restitution of stolen property or to reparation. Mr. Lloyd George replied that there ought to be some reference to restitution, but that reparation was a Peace condition rather than an Armistice condition. M. Hymans agreed with Mr. Lloyd George. MM. Sonnino and Orlando went further and thought that neither had any place in the Armistice Terms but were ready to accept the Lloyd George–Hymans compromise of including Restitution but not Reparation. The discussion was postponed for M. Hymans to draft a formula. On its resumption next day, it was M. Clemenceau who produced a formula consisting of the three words _Réparation des dommages_. M. Hymans, M. Sonnino, and Mr. Bonar Law all expressed doubt whether this was in place in the Armistice Terms. M. Clemenceau replied that he only wanted to mention the principle, and that French public opinion would be surprised if there was no reference to it. Mr. Bonar Law objected: “It is already mentioned in our letter to President Wilson which he is about to communicate to Germany. It is useless to repeat it.”[99] This observation met with no contradiction, but it was agreed on sentimental grounds and for the satisfaction of public opinion to add M. Clemenceau’s three words. The Council then passed on to other topics. At the last moment, as they were about to disperse, M. Klotz slipped in the words: “It would be prudent to put at the head of the financial questions a clause reserving the future claims of the Allies, and I propose to you the wording ‘without prejudice to any subsequent claims and demands on the part of the Allies.’”[100] It does not seem to have occurred to any of those present that this text could be deemed of material importance or otherwise than as protecting the Allies from the risk of being held to have surrendered any existing claims through failure to mention them in this document; and it was accepted without discussion. M. Klotz afterwards boasted that by this little device he had abolished the Fourteen Points, so far as they affected Reparation and Finance (although the very same meeting of the Allies had despatched a Note to President Wilson accepting them), and had secured to the Allies the right to demand from Germany the whole cost of the War. But I think the world will decide that the Supreme Council was right in attaching to these words no particular importance. Personal pride in so smart a trick has led M. Klotz, and his colleague M. Tardieu, to persist too long with a contention which decent persons have now abandoned.