ALLIES RE-STATE WAR AIMS
At the request of the Russian Government, and by way of response to the prevalent sentiment in Russia for peace "without annexations and without indemnities," the United States and Great Britain have re-stated their war aims in notes to the Russian Government.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE—President Wilson's Note, delivered May 26 and published June 10, laid down the principles that "No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty," and "No indemnities must be insisted on except those that constitute payment for manifest wrongs done." The text follows:
"In view of the approaching visit of the American delegation to Russia to express the deep friendship of the American people for the people of Russia and to discuss the best and most practical means of co-operation between the two peoples in carrying the present struggle for the freedom of all peoples to a successful consummation, it seems opportune and appropriate that I should state again, in the light of this new partnership the objects the United States has had in mind in entering the war. Those objects have been very much beclouded during the past few weeks by mistaken and misleading statements, and the issues at stake are too momentous, too tremendous, too significant for the whole human race to permit any misinterpretations or misunderstandings, however slight, to remain uncorrected for a moment.
"The war has begun to go against Germany, and in their desperate desire to escape the inevitable ultimate defeat those who are in authority in Germany are using every possible instrumentality, are making use even of the influence of groups and parties among their own subjects to whom they have never been just or fair or even tolerant, to promote a propaganda on both sides of the sea which will preserve for them their influence at home and their power abroad, to the undoing of the very men they are using.
"The position of America in this war is so clearly avowed that no man can be excused for mistaking it. She seeks no material profit or aggrandizement of any kind. She is fighting for no advantage or selfish object of her own, but for the liberation of peoples everywhere from the aggressions of autocratic force. The ruling classes in Germany have begun of late to profess a like liberality and justice of purpose, but only to preserve the power they have set up in Germany and the selfish advantages which they have wrongly gained for themselves and their private projects of power all the way from Berlin to Bagdad and beyond. Government after government has by their influence, without open conquest of its territory, been linked together in a net of intrigue directed against nothing less than the peace and liberty of the world. The meshes of that intrigue must be broken, but cannot be broken unless wrongs already done are undone; and adequate measures must be taken to prevent it from ever again being rewoven or repaired.
"Of course, the Imperial German Government and those whom it is using for their own undoing are seeking to obtain pledges that the war will end in the restoration of the status quo ante. It was the status quo ante out of which this iniquitous war issued forth, the power of the Imperial German Government within the Empire and its widespread domination and influence outside of that Empire. That status must be altered in such fashion as to prevent any such hideous thing from ever happening again.
"We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, and the undictated development of all peoples, and every feature of the settlement that concludes this war must be conceived and executed for that purpose. Wrongs must first be righted, and then adequate safeguards must be created to prevent their being committed again. We ought not to consider remedies merely because they have a pleasing and sonorous sound. Practical questions can be settled only by practical means. Phrases will not accomplish the result. Effective readjustments will; and whatever readjustments are necessary must be made.
"But they must follow a principle, and that principle is plain. No people must be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live. No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty. No indemnities must be insisted on except those that constitute payment for manifest wrongs done. No readjustments of power must be made except such as will tend to secure the future peace of the world and the future welfare and happiness of its people.
"And then the free peoples of the world must draw together in some common covenant, some genuine and practical co-operation that will in effect combine their force to secure peace and justice in the dealings of nations with one another. The brotherhood of mankind must no longer be a fair but empty phrase; it must be given a structure of force and reality. The nations must realize their common life and effect a workable partnership to secure that life against the aggressions of autocratic and self-pleasing power.
"For these things we can afford to pour out blood and treasure. For these are the things we have always professed to desire, and unless we pour out blood and treasure now and succeed, we may never be able to unite or show conquering force again in the great cause of human liberty. The day has come to conquer or submit. If the forces of autocracy can divide us they will overcome us; if we stand together, victory is certain and the liberty which victory will secure. We can afford then to be generous, but we cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any single guarantee of justice and security.
"WOODROW WILSON."
GREAT BRITAIN'S REPLY.—In a note to Russia published June 11, the British Government stated that their purpose in entering upon the war was "to defend the existence of their country and enforce respect for international engagements; to those objects has now been added that of liberating populations oppressed by alien tyranny!” The government rejoiced in Russia's expressed intention of liberating Poland, not only Russian Poland but that part controlled by the Germanic Powers. They joined their Russian allies in approving the principles laid down in President Wilson's historic message to the American Congress. They believed that the agreements made by the British Government with their allies were conformable to these standards, but, if the Russian Government so desired, they were quite ready to examine and, if need be, revise these agreements.
FRANCE INSISTS ON RESTITUTION AND REPARATION.—In a vigorous speech before the Chamber of Deputies on May 22, Premier Ribot insisted that "restoration of our lost provinces must not be regarded as a question of annexations," and that reparation must be made for ravages in invaded provinces and in the territories of Belgium, Serbia, Rumania, and Montenegro.
On June 5 the Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 453 to 55, adopted the following resolution declaring that peace conditions must include reparation and the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine:
"The Chamber of Deputies, the direct expression of the sovereignty of the French people, salutes the Russian and other allied democracies, and indorses the unanimous protest which the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, torn from France against their will, have made to the National Assembly. It declares that it expects from the war imposed upon Europe by the aggression of imperialist Germany the return of Alsace-Lorraine to the mother country, together with liberation of invaded territories and just reparation for damage.
"Far removed from all thoughts of conquest and enslavement, it expects that the efforts of the armies of the republic and her allies will secure, once Prussian militarism is destroyed, durable guarantees for peace and independence for peoples great and small, in a league of nations such as has already been foreshadowed."
WARNING FROM JAPAN.—WASHINGTON, June 5.—It was learned here to-day that Japan has notified the Russian Provisional Government that if Russia withdraws from the war Japan, in consultation with Great Britain, will consider what measures to take. It was intimated that Japan and Great Britain would exchange views with the United States concerning the Russian situation.
It is understood that the Russian Provisional Government has been warned that if she accepted a separate peace with the Central Empires her action would be almost equivalent to aligning herself with Germany, and that so far from gaining anything by it she would become another Austria under German domination.—N. Y. Times, 4/6.
STATEMENT EXPECTED FROM RUSSIA—WASHINGTON, June 14.—The Entente Powers, having expressed through Great Britain a willingness to revise the terms of the Entente Alliance as relates to war aims, are prepared to ask the Russian Provisional Government a definition of Russia's position and a declaration of her intentions. The statement was made today that the Entente Powers had carefully examined the situation and reached these conclusions:
"1. That the position occupied by Russia affect's the entire plans of the Allies, especially as regards military operations in the near future contemplated by England, France and Italy.
"2. That nothing Russia does can irreparably damage the cause or the interests of the Allies.
"3. That Japan can be counted upon to prevent Russia from forming an alliance with Germany or of giving aid to the Central Powers."
REBELLION AT KR0NSTADT.—On May 30 the local Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates assumed control of the fortress and island of Kronstadt and refused to recognize the Provisional Government. A temporary settlement was made on June 1 by members of the Cabinet who visited the island, but this was soon violated, and on June 9 the Provisional Government, fully supported by the Petrograd Council of Delegates, issued a strongly phrased order for submission.
The Kronstadt affair is considered important chiefly as a test of the will and power of the Provisional Government to control the country.
AMERICAN ENVOYS REACH PETROGRAD.—The American mission, headed by Elihu Root, and the American Railroad Commission, headed by John F. Stevens, arrived in Petrograd on June 13. The Railroad Commission, according to a statement from Mr. Stevens, will at once establish relations with the Transportation and War Departments, and facilitate the purchase in the United States of necessary construction materials, war munitions, iron and coal.
THE STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE
Pending the arrival of delegates from the enemy powers, the representatives of the Germanic Powers at the Stockholm Socialist Conference issued on May 30 the following peace program:
"First—No annexations.
"Second—No indemnities.
"Third—The South Slavic lands and Austro-Hungarian crown lands to remain in the Dual Monarchy.
"Fourth—Finland and Russian Poland to be independent states; the people of Galicia to have autonomy under the sovereignty of Austria.
"Fifth—Restoration of freedom of commerce on land and sea; modification of the protectionist system; the establishment of 'international administration' for all maritime routes and interoceanic canals; internationally built and administered railways.
"Sixth—Return to the maritime principle established by the Paris peace treaty of 1836, especially regarding the prohibition of the capture or arming of merchantmen; abolishment of prize courts; reduction of the contraband list, taking therefrom especially all raw materials for clothing or food; modification of the rights of blockade and restriction of mechanical means which may be employed in maritime and air warfare.'
"The delegates go on record as opposing the annexation of Belgium and declare themselves as 'being friendly to Serbia's independence, which state, by joining with Montenegro, can assure itself of an outlet to the sea.'
“They declare that the Balkan States should arrange their own internal affairs without outside interference.
"The future of Alsace and Lorraine is not mentioned,
"The Czech, Polish and Bosnian delegates attended the group conference, but did not join in the program. They will formulate their own program later.
"The agreement of the German and Austrian Socialists, if carried out, would leave their nations stronger abroad and more centralized politically at home than they were before the war. Turkey is defended, and Italy's right to ‘Italia Irredenta’ is not recognized, nor is France's to Alsace-Lorraine."—N. Y. Times, 31/5.
SOCIALIST DELEGATES AT STOCKHOLM AND PETROGRAD.—Among the German delegates reported at Stockholm in despatches of June 4 were seven representatives of the Majority German Socialists, headed by Philip Scheidemann. The American delegates, Hillquit, Berger and Lee, were denied passports by the State Department on the ground that unauthorized individuals from this country may not confer with delegates who have at least a quasi-official status from a foreign power. Three British Socialists have been granted passports, not to Stockholm, but to Petrograd, at the request of the Russian Government. Premier Ribot announced on June 1 that no passports would be issued to French delegates to Stockholm.
Writing to the London Chronicle from Petrograd on June 7, Emile Vandervelde, Belgian Ministry of Munitions and Socialist leader, noted the gathering in Russia of Socialist representatives of the Allied Powers—two from Belgium, two from Italy, two in the American mission led by Elihu Root, Albert Thomas, representing France, and Arthur Henderson, representing England. These representatives, in conference with the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, opposed an international Socialist conference such as the council proposed, on the ground that negotiations with the German Majority Socialists, so long as they pursued their present policy, would be futile and dangerous. M. Vandervelde announced that a conference of Socialists from the Allied Powers would be held in London in July.
THE GERMANIC POWERS
RESIGNATION OF COUNT TISZA.—Count Stefan Tisza, premier of the Hungarian Kingdom since 1913, resigned on May 23, and was succeeded on May 31 by the Liberal leader, Count Julius Andrássy. Count Tisza's resignation followed a conference with the Emperor over proposals for the extension of the Hungarian franchise, and is understood to have resulted from his insistence on Maygar supremacy and his unwillingness to extend political privileges to Slav, Polish and other non-Maygar elements in Hungary.
By the German press the change was welcomed as presaging a shift from dualism to "trialism" in the control of Austria Hungary, and as a means of bringing Poles and Slays into more willing support of Germanic power. Though an exponent of autocracy, Tisza was, at times, suspicious of German influence in the Dual Empire.
The Allied press regarded the fall of Tisza and the assembly of the Austrian Reichstat on May 31 as signs of an inclination to more liberal and constitutional government on the part of the new Emperor, and a tendency to shake himself free from German control.
GERMANY'S GRIP ON SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
Press despatches from Washington of May 20 contained extended accounts, by no means new to readers of M. Cheradame and other students of European political history, of Germany's schemes for the domination of southeastern Europe, and the tremendous advantage she would gain by a premature peace based on nominal return to conditions preceding the war.
To quote the despatches:
"This information disclosed as one of the primary aims of the war a plan for consolidation of an impregnable military and economic unit stretching from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, cutting Europe permanently in half, controlling the Dardanelles, the Aegean, and the Baltic, and eventually forming the backbone of a Prussian world empire.
"The subjugation of Austria-Hungary, which would have presented a difficult task under ordinary conditions, became in the circumstances compartively simple. A polyglot combination of states having little in common and apparently held together only by the decaying genius of the aged Emperor Francis Joseph, the dual monarchy was regarded everywhere as on the verge of dissolution. Her helplessness before Russia's armies became apparent early in the war, and the eagerness with which Germany seized the opportunity thus presented is pointed to as emphasizing the far-sightedness of the German plans.
"Austria-Hungary's submission now is declared to be complete both in a military and economic sense. The German officers commanding her armies, abetted by political and industrial agents scattered through the country by Germany evidently are holding the Austrian and Hungarian populations in a union which neither the hardships of war, the death of the Emperor nor the inspiration of outside influences such as the Russian revolution can break,
"Bulgaria's declaration of war on the side of Germany was actuated by a German diplomatic coup which in itself is regarded now as a further evidence that a clear road through to the Dardanelles was considered in Berlin as a primary and imperative purpose of the war. It is pointed out that the only concrete cause for action set forth in the Bulgarian war proclamation is that 'the Central Powers have promised us parts of Serbia, creating an Austro-Bulgarian border line.' Creation of such a junction now well established by the Austro-German-Bulgarian armies, breaks down a hitherto formidable barrier to German expansion southeastward.
"In the case of Turkey, German domination is believed here to be even more complete than in Austria-Hungary or Bulgaria. Not only have German officers led in defending Turkish territory and in eradicating inharmonious elements such as the Armenians and Syrians, but it has been learned that German industrial organizers have taken a firm grip on Turkish industry and a large delegation of German professors has been sent to spread German kultur among the population.
"Fitting in squarely with an actuating desire for conquest to the southeast is the general German military policy during the entire war. It is noted that even at the expense of recessions on the eastern and western fronts, Germany has taken pains to overrun quickly Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania, and to keep in check all allied attempts to strike at the southeastern pathway from the Dardanelles or Saloniki. Not until the present British advance in Asiatic Turkey has there been any serious danger to any part of the greater stretch from the Baltic to the Persian Gulf.
It is problematical to officials here how far Germany might go, should peace be made now with renunciation of all territory on the east and west, in political consolidation of the great territory in the southeast. It is pointed out that any German peace offer would be expected to demand at least some expansion for Bulgaria and the retention of enough of the conquered Balkan territory to insure the route to Constantinople. That it is the intention to bring Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey into a customs union, Germanizing their industries, and to surround the whole economic entity thus established with a formidable tariff wall, has been made clear by the declarations of Friedrich Naumann and other exponents of an economic mittel Europa.
"The turn of affairs is accepted, too, as bringing Austria-Hungary more clearly into relief as the area of possible operations to impose a barrier between Berlin and Constantinople. In that connection is recalled the declaration of the Allies, replying to President Wilson's peace note in the light of knowledge which only now has become available here, that the war must accomplish 'the liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and Czecho-Slovacs from foreign domination, the enfranchisement of populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turk, the expulsion from Europe of the Ottoman Empire,' and the restoration of Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania.
"Such a program, it is pointed out, would effectually break up the greater Germany now established as the nucleus of a world Germany. It would impose a Rumanian-Serbian barrier between Austria and Bulgaria; would further enlarge this barrier by restoring to Rumania her 3,500,000 nationals in Eastern Hungary and probably to Serbia 5,500,000, Serbo-Croatians in Southern Austria and a large section of Bulgaria; would establish at the crucial southern point of the Dual Empire a free nation of 7,000,000 Czecho-Slovacs and in the north a free Poland by the addition of 5,000,000 Poles now under Austrian rule; would restore 1,000,000 Italians to Italy and upward of 2,000,000 Slavs to Russia; and in addition would dismember the then detached Turkish territory to the south by liberating the Armenians and Syrians and removing the Dardanelles from German domination.
"American officials have made it clear that in cooperating with the Allies the United States was not entering a binding alliance to accomplish definite and detailed territorial aims; but there is every evidence that the government understands in concrete form the crucial southeastern element of the situation and realizes the enormity of the struggle that must be won before the world is made 'safe for democracy.'"
SPAIN AND THE WAR.—The fall of the Prieto Cabinet in Spain, after little more than a month in office, was followed on June 12 by the formation of a new ministry by Eduardo Dato. The success of the Dato Cabinet will depend on its ability to cope with the strife in Spain between the army and the civil power. As regards the war, the new cabinet, like its predecessor, is committed to a policy of absolute neutrality. It has the support of the Liberal majority in the Cortes and of the Liberal leader Count de Romanones.
The Spanish Government received on May 22 what was regarded as a satisfactory reply from Germany to the Spanish protest at the attack on the vessel Patricio in Spanish territorial waters. A more significant answer may be seen in the sinking, reported May 27, of the Spanish vessel Begota, and the loss of the mail steamer C. de Eizaguirre with the sacrifice of 80 or more lives.
GREECE
ABDICATION OF KING CONSTANTINE.—On June 12, King Constantine abdicated the throne of Greece in favor of his second son, Prince Alexander. The abdication followed a conference in Savoy between Premier Lloyd George and representatives of France and Italy, at which the present policy was agreed upon and the French statesman, Senator Jomart, was appointed representative of France, England and Russia with plenary powers to deal with Grecian affairs. The fall of the Czar is considered to have removed the last obstacle to summary action against King Constantine. His forced abdication at this time forestalled his plan to secure control of the Thessalian grain harvest, which would have enabled him for a considerable period to defy an Allied blockade. Despatches of Julie 13 stated that French and British troops had been landed in Thessaly and Corinth, and had occupied Athens.
Considerable criticism appeared in the British press at the continuance of the present dynasty. Constantine's second son, however, is regarded as an admirer of Venizelos and intensely pro.-Entente. A year ago it was reported that he had thrown tip his commission as captain in the artillery to 16 in Venizelos's volunteers. He was born August 1, 1893.
PARTY STRIFE IN CHINA.—On May 23, President Li Yuan Hung dismissed Premier Tuan-Chi-jui. Tuan had previously lost the support of Parliament and of his own Cabinet, and his downfall is reported to have developed from his efforts to force China to a declaration of war, without being able to bear out his promises of rewards from the Allies in the event of such action. When China broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the Parliament acted not primarily at the instance of Tuan or the Japanese influences by which he was controlled, but rather as a result of the activities of the American Minister.
Following Tuan's downfall, conservative elements in the North rallied to his support. Eleven of the 18 provinces of China broke off relations with the Central Government, and press despatches of June 3 reported the formation of a rival government with Hou-Shih-Chang as dictator and Tsao Ju-lin as foreign minister, the latter strongly pro-Japanese.
According to last accounts President Li was still in power and undecided whether or not to promulgate a decree dissolving Parliament. Such action would force a new election and postpone for six months or more a decision to enter the war.
The turmoil in China is ascribed to internal party strife and jealousy between the northern and southern provinces, rather than to any genuine disagreement over China's foreign policy, in which governmental and public opinion strongly incline to active support of the Western Powers.