FROM JULY 20 TO AUGUST 20
ALLIED ACTION IN SIBERIA
Following prolonged discussion between the United States and Japan, complete agreement was finally reached, according to a Washington announcement of August 2. General Otani, 63 year of age and a veteran of the Chinese and Russian Wars, was selected by Japan to command her troops, and by virtue of rank took command of the Allied expeditionary forces. Major General William S. Graves was appointed to command the American contingent, which it was understood would not at first consist of more than 10,000 men, the nucleus of which would be two regular regiments in the Philippines. The arrival of American forces in Vladivostok was reported on August 15.
UNITED STATES' POLICY.—On August 3, following conferences with President Wilson and Count Ishii, Acting Secretary of State Polk issued an official statement of the Russian policy of the United States, in substance as follows:
The State Department's public explanation of the American-Japanese action in Siberia emphasizes our government's firm conviction that military intervention in Russia on such a scale as has been suggested "would be more likely to add to the present bad confusion there than to cure it, and would injure Russia rather than help her out of her distresses. Our government feels that even if such intervention hurt Germany it would be likely "to turn out to be merely a method of making use of Russia than to be a method of serving her.” For "her people, if they profited by it at all, could not profit by it in time to deliver them from their present desperate difficulties, and their substance would, meantime, be used to maintain foreign armies, not to reconstitute their own or feed their own men, women, and children." Furthermore, since we are determined to win the war on the Western Front, it would be unwise to divide our forces. Under the present circumstances, therefore, it is the administration's view that—
"Military action is admissible in Russia now only to render such protection and help as are possible to the Czecho-Slovaks against the armed Austrian and German prisoners who are attacking them, and to steady efforts at self-government or self-defence, in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept assistance.
"Whether from Vladivostok or from Murmansk and Archangel, the only present object for which American troops will be employed will be to guard military stores which may subsequently be needed by Russian forces and to render such aid as may be acceptable to the Russians in the organization of their own self-defence.
"With such objects in view, the government of the United States is now cooperating with the governments of France and Great Britain in the neighborhood of Murmansk and Archangel. The United States and Japan are the only powers which are just now in a position to act in Siberia in sufficient force to accomplish even such modest objects as those that have been outlined.
"The government of the United States has therefore proposed to the government of Japan that each of the two governments send a force of a few thousand men to Vladivostok with the purpose of cooperating as a single force in the occupation of Vladivostok and in safeguarding, so far as it may, the country to the tear of the westward moving Czecho-Slovaks, and the Japanese Government has consented.
"In taking this action the government of the United States wishes to announce to the people of Russia in the most public and solemn manner that it contemplates no interference with the political sovereignty of Russia, no intervention in her internal affairs—not even in the local affairs of the limited areas which her military force may be obliged to occupy—and no impairment of her territorial integrity either now or hereafter, but that what we are about to do has as its single and only object the rendering of such aid as shall be acceptable to the Russian people themselves in their endeavors to regain control of their own affairs, their own territory, and their own destiny. . . . .
"It is also the hope and purpose of the government of the United States to take advantage of the earliest opportunity to send to Siberia a commission of merchants, agricultural experts, labor advisers, and Red Cross representatives, and agents of the Young Men's Christian Association accustomed to organizing the best methods of spreading useful information and rendering educational help of a modest kind, in order in some systematic way to relieve the immediate economic necessities of the people there in every way for which an opportunity may open. The execution of this plan will follow and will not be permitted to embarrass the military assistance rendered to the Czecho-Slovaks."—Literary Digest, 17/8.
JAPAN'S STATEMENT.—Japan, on August 2 issued the following explanation of her purpose in sending forces into Siberia:
"In adopting this course the Japanese Government remain constant in their desire to promote relations of enduring friendship, and they reaffirm their avowed policy of respecting the territorial integrity of Russia, and of abstaining from an interference in her internal policies. They further declare that upon the realization of the objects above indicated, they will immediately withdraw all Japanese troops from Russian territory and will leave wholly unimpaired the sovereignty of Russia in all its phases, whether political or military."
SIBERIAN FACTIONS TO COOPERATE.—A statement was issued by the Russian Embassy in Washington on August 5 to the effect that political factions in Siberia had consolidated, and that the so-called "Siberian Temporary Government at Vladivostok would cooperate with the Czecho-Slovaks and the Allies in reestablishing a firm government in Russia. General Horvath, who had proclaimed himself dictator in Siberia, visited Vladivostok and was evidently anxious for Allied support and willing to negotiate with the Vladivostok government.
THE MILITARY SITUATION.—Reports of August 12 stated that British troops had proceeded to the Usuri River front, north of Vladivostok, and that Japanese forces were also on the scene. A statement given to the press in Washington on August 3 described the military situation as follows:
The Czecho-Slovaks hold in European Russia the Volga River for a stretch of some 200 miles, from Kazan on the north to a place a few miles south of Samara. Thus they are able to stop the transportation of grain from southeastern Russia, the only fertile part of European Russia not yet controlled by the Germans. By their occupation of Samara and Orenburg they hold the Turkestan Railroad and prevent the exportation of cotton and grain from central Asia.
They hold the Ural Mountains from Orenburg in the south to Ekaterinburg on the north, thereby controlling also the Petrograd branch of the Siberian Railroad. This makes it impossible for the Germans to obtain platinum from the mines of the Urals, from which comes nearly all the existing supply of platinum.
The Czecho-Slovaks hold absolutely a long stretch of the Siberian road from the mountains to Lake Baikal; this stretch runs through that part of Siberia which best resembles the prairies of western Canada, and supplied in the past the cities of northern Russia with flour, butter and cheese.
The most immediate strategic problem of the Czecho-Slovaks is to clear that stretch of the Siberian Railroad extending from Lake Baikal to the Eastward along the Trans-Siberian Railroad came the Czecho-Slovak Army to find ships to take them to the Western Front. Less than 20,000 reached Vladivostok. Others, held up by the Bolsheviki in and around Irkutsk, proceeded to take possession of the railroad between Lake Baikal and the Volga and of towns in the Volga region. Allied forces now hold the White Sea and Kola peninsula ports, and from Vladivostok will help the Czecho-Slovaks to secure uninterrupted communications across Siberia.—Literary Digest.
junction of Nikolsk of German-Magyar forces, well armed and supported by the Bolsheviki. . . . .
At present the 15,000 that came first to Vladivostok are separated from the main body of the Czecho-Slovaks, and the first problem is to reestablish their contact.
BRITISH AT BAKU ON THE CASPIAN.—About the middle of August British troops were reported in Baku, the railroad terminus and oil-shipping base on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, and also in Turkestan on the east coast. This force may provide a rallying point for the Armenians, Georgians and Don Cossacks in this region.
THE ALLIES ON RUSSIA'S ARCTIC COAST
ALLIED AMBASSADORS LEAVE VOLOGDA.—On July 25 the Allied diplomatic representatives who had remained at Vologda, north of Moscow, received an urgent message from M. Tchitcherin, the Bolshevist Foreign Minister, to come to Moscow, on the ground that Vologda was in danger of attack. Instead of so-doing, the diplomats proceeded to Archangel. Here the local Soviet, under orders from M. Trotzsky, refused them permission to remain. The ambassadors, with 60 refugees, then proceeded on July 28 across the White Sea to Kandalaska and thence to Murmansk. Following the military occupation of Archangel, the Allied representatives on August 8 returned to that port.
The controversy preceding the departure of the envoys from Vologda is outlined in the following Associated Press despatch from Vologda:
Vologda, July 25 (Associated Press).—The reason for American Ambassador Francis and the other Allied diplomats leaving Vologda for Archangel to-day was their refusal to comply with insistent demands of the Bolshevist Foreign Office that they move to Moscow. The Bolsheviki said they wanted the diplomats to move because they believed Vologda soon would be the center of counter-revolutionary fighting.
M. Tchitcherin, the Foreign Minister, telegraphed several times to Ambassador Francis warning him that Vologda was not a safe place for the embassy. He also sent Carl Radek, Assistant Foreign Minister, to Vologda for a conference with the diplomats.
Ambassador Francis and his colleagues expressed full confidence in the people of Vologda and declined to go to Moscow. The Soviet Government then refused to provide an engine for a special train to go to Archangel. Tchitcherin telegraphed that Archangel was not a fit place for the ambassadors in case of siege, but he was willing to grant the use of an engine only on condition that the Allied embassies leave Russia as soon as a ship could be provided for them. The Allied diplomats accepted the condition and started to-day for Archangel.
In a final message to the Russian Foreign Minister, Ambassador Francis declared he had no desire to leave Russia unless forced to do so, and in any event his absence would be only temporary. The consuls of the Allied countries, he said, would remain in Russia. Tchitcherin said that the departure of the ambassadors would not in the slightest alter the relations of Soviet Russia, with the Allied countries, and assured the acting American Consul General, Mr. Poole, that there was no reason why the consuls and citizens of the Allied nations should not remain in Russia. He scouted the idea that the departure of the ambassadors was the forerunner of a rupture between the Soviet Government and the Allies.
The final message sent to Tchitcherin by Ambassador Francis, as dean of the diplomatic corps, reviewed the correspondence that led to the decision of the ambassadors to go to Archangel and continued:
"Your message expressing friendly feelings for the people I represent, and the desire on your part to maintain relations with them is appreciated, but you will permit me to say that your treatment of me as their representative does not accord with such expressions. While I have refrained from interfering in the internal affairs of Russia I have considered the Russian people were still our allies, and have more than once appealed to them to unite with us in resisting the common enemy; I have furthermore recommended to my government many times to send food to relieve the sufferings of the Russian people and to ship agricultural implements.
"A wireless message sent from Washington on July 10 and received at Moscow was delivered to me after last midnight—July 24. It stated that no message had been received from me of later date than June 24, except one sent through Archangel on July 7, advising of the killing of the German ambassador; it furthermore stated the department had cabled me often and fully. I have received no cable from my government that was sent after July 3, except two wireless messages inquiring why they did not hear from me; I had cabled fully every day.
"Moreover, the press of Vologda, and doubtless the entire press of Russia, has received an order to print nothing from any Allied ambassador or representative without first submitting the same to the Soviet Government. Some journals in Vologda and some in Petrograd did print your first telegram, inviting and ordering the diplomatic corps to come to Moscow and our reply thereto; these were given to the press by myself and for the information of the Russian people, and because I thought secret diplomacy had been abolished in Russia.
"Upon hearing that the press was forbidden to publish further correspondence concerning our removal to Moscow, the diplomatic corps decided to have printed in pamphlet form in Russian the entire correspondence on the subject, together with some excerpts from the stenographic report of an interview between your representative, Radek, and myself. These pamphlets have been ready for delivery for two days past, but we are informed that the Central Soviet Committee or the extraordinary revolutionary staff of Vologda has prohibited the delivery of the same to us."
Ambassador Francis then informed Tchitcherin that all the Allied ambassadors were acting in harmony and shared the same views. He continued:
"Your telegram states that Archangel is not a fit residence for ambassadors in the event of a 'siege.' Do you expect a German siege of Archangel? Certainly you do not anticipate an allied siege of that city.
"I can only repeat what I have said to you and to the Russian people many times, and that is the Allied ambassadors have nothing to fear from the Russian people with whom they consider themselves still in alliance against the common enemy. Speaking for myself, I have no desire or intention of leaving Russia unless forced to do so, and in such event my absence would be but temporary. I would not properly represent my government or the sentiment of the American people if I should leave Russia at this time.
"The Allies have never recognized the Brest-Litovsk peace, and it is becoming so burdensome to the Russian people that in my judgment the time is not far distant when they will turn upon Germany and the repulsion of the enemy from the Russian borders will demonstrate what I have continuously believed, and that is that the national spirit of great Russia is not dead, but has only been sleeping."
ALLIED OCCUPATION OF ARCHANGEL—Allied troops, including a small force from a United States cruiser, landed at Archangel on August 2 and occupied the town with but slight resistance from a small body of Bolsheviki. This consisted of about 8000 men, including 900 Germans, 5000 workmen, 1500 armed Maxillists, and 400 Laps. The Allies afterward pushed south along the railway and on August 15 were reported 100 miles on the road to Vologda and welcomed by the civilian population.
PRO-ALLY GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED.—A government of the "country of the north" was organized at Archangel and issued a proclamation appearing in the press on August 8 which declared the Bolsheviki power ended. The proclamation read in part as follows:
By this proclamation we inform the inhabitants that from to-day the power of government is confided to the supreme direction of the government of the country of the north, which is composed of members of the Constituent Assembly and representatives of the Zemstvos of this district, which considers itself as the supreme authority from now on to hand over power immediately after Russia has chosen her government and as soon as there is a possibility of freely communicating with her.
The aim of the government is, first, the regeneration of Russia, the resumption of relations between Russia and other governments and the organization of local power with the government of the north.
The defence of the region of the north and the whole nation against all territorial violation by Germany, Finland and other enemies is the second aim of the government.
Third, it seeks a reunion with Russia of the peoples who have been taken from her.
Fourth, it seeks the reestablishment of the two organs of the people, namely, the Constituent Assembly, Municipal Dumas and Zemstvos.
Fifth, it seeks the reestablishment of legal order by the expression of the will of the citizens and the reestablishment of political and religious liberty.
Sixth, it seeks the security of the rights of agricultural workers.
Seventh, it seeks the defence of the interests of labor in accordance with the political and economic interests of the north and the rest of Russia.
Eighth, it will strive for suppression of famine.
The government will not fail to publish regulations for the application of the foregoing program. The government relies upon the support of the whole population, which is dear to it, and hopes to realize the program with the help of the Allies.
The government counts upon the Russian, American and British peoples as well as those of other nations for aid in combating famine and ameliorating the financial situation. It is recognized that the intervention of the Allies in the interior affairs of Russia is not directed against the interests of the people, and that the people will welcome the Allied troops who have come to fight against the common enemy.
The government, in making the present declaration, calls upon the people to preserve calm and order.
BOLSHEVIKI THREATEN WAR ON ALLIES
A series of despatches received on August 14 in Washington from De Witt C. Poole, Jr., U. S. Consul General at Moscow, revealed the relations existing between the Allied representatives and the tottering government at Moscow. The consuls general of Great Britain and France had been arrested, together with a large number of civilians, as a measure of retaliation for the landing at Archangel, but were afterward released. At last reports, Consul General Poole was still in Moscow.
It was on July 29, Mr. Poole's dispatches say, that Lenine declared repeatedly before an official gathering of the Soviet that a state of war existed between the Russian republic and the Allied powers. The Allied consular body asked Foreign Minister Tchitcherin for an explanation. He told the consuls that the declaration should not be taken literally. What Lenine meant, he said, was that a state of defence rather than a state of war existed. The government desired to continue its relations with the Entente. The consuls called for a public announcement to that effect. Tchitcherin's response was unsatisfactory.
The arrests of British and French citizens in Moscow brought a protest from the Allied consuls, and assurances were received from the Bolshevist authorities that Allied persons having diplomatic or official status would not be molested. Tchitcherin explained that the civilians had been arrested as hostages, because Great Britain and France had attacked Archangel.
Consul Poole told Tchitcherin that the peoples of the Allied nations would not be intimidated and that such practices would only result in the Allies holding members of the Soviet Government personally responsible.
The consuls had asked for safe conducts and were preparing for departure from Moscow, probably by way of Petrograd and Stockholm. The German Embassy had recommended that the safe conducts be granted.
Secretaries and other officers of the Allied embassies at Vologda, from which their ambassadors departed on account of Bolshevist threats, were still in that city on August 6, the date of Mr. Poole's last message.
The American Minister to Sweden has reported to the Department of State that he had been informed by the Swedish Foreign Office that on August 5 the Swedish Consul General at Moscow took temporary charge of American as well as English and Japanese interests.—N. Y. Times, 15/8.
In a letter dated August 6, addressed to Mr. Poole, Foreign Minister Tchitcherin declared that "our people are still at peace with yours" and offered him the facilities of the wireless to communicate with his government. In the letter the minister complained at length of the Anglo-French operations, and the opening of hostilities without a declaration of war. The letter concludes:
Precisely at this moment we say to these countries whose armies proceed with open violence against us, and we call out to their peoples: "Peace be to the homes of the poor."
As you stated to us that your nation does not propose to destroy the Soviets, we ask you now if you cannot tell us plainly what Great Britain wants with us. Is Great Britain's aim to destroy the most popular government the world has ever seen, namely, the councils of the poor and the peasants? Is her aim a counter-revolution?
In view of the acts referred to by me, I must assume that that is true. We must believe that her intention is to reestablish the worst tyranny in the world, namely, the hated czarism. Or does she contemplate seizing any specific town or territory she can name?
Remembering your kindness, I hope you will help us to elucidate these problems.—N. Y. Times, 13/10.
RED LEADERS FLEE TO KRONSTADT
According to press despatches from Berlin received on August 12, Premier Lenine and Leon Trotzsky, with their followers, fled from Moscow to the naval base of Kronstadt. At about the same time the Soviets placed the executive power in a triumvirate composed of Lenine, Trotzsky and Zinovieff, an associate of Lenine.
The new German ambassador to Moscow, former Vice-Chancellor Helfferich, left Berlin for Moscow on July 25, accompanied by a battalion of German troops. Before the flight of the Soviet Government from Moscow, Dr. Helfferich removed the embassy for safety to Pskov, 50 miles from Riga, within easy reach of the German troops and fleet.
According to reports of August 17, the Germans had seized Kronstadt, which in any case was completely open to German domination, and an advance on Petrograd was imminent.
GREAT BRITAIN RECOGNIZES CZECHO-SLOVAKS
On August 12 the British Government issued a proclamation recognizing the Czecho-Slovak nation, and the Czecho-Slovak National Council as the supreme authority of that nation. The proclamation read as follows: Since the beginning of the war the Czecho-Slovak nation has resisted the common enemy by every means in its power.
The Czecho-Slovaks have constituted a considerable army, fighting on three different battlefields, and attempting in Russia and Siberia to arrest the Germanic invasion. In consideration of its efforts to achieve independence, Great Britain regards the Czecho-Slovaks as an allied nation and recognizes the unity of the three Czecho-Slovak armies as an allied and belligerent army waging regular warfare against Austria-Hungary and Germany.
Great Britain also recognizes the right of the Czecho-Slovak National Council as the supreme organ of Czecho-Slovak national interests and as the present trustee of the future Czecho-Slovak Government to exercise supreme authority over this allied and belligerent army.
Austria as a counter measure immediately declared the Czecho-Slovaks traitors, to be treated as such, and asserted further that the so-called Czecho-Slovak armies were made up only in small part of former citizens of Austria and Hungary.
UKRAINE
FIELD MARSHAL VON EICHHORN ASSASSINATED.—Amsterdam, July 31.— Field Marshal von Eichhorn, the German commander in the Ukraine, and his adjutant, Captain von Dressler, were mortally wounded yesterday by a bomb thrown at them while they were driving to their headquarters from the Casino in Kiev, and died last night.
The news comes in an official announcement received here from the Ukrainian capital, which says that the bomb was thrown from a cab which drove close to the field marshal's carriage. The assassin and the cab driver were arrested. The telegram adds that the crime originated with the Social Revolutionists in Moscow.
The assassin was a youth of 23. He declared at the inquiry held after the crime that he came from the province of Ryazan, adjacent to Moscow, on orders from a Communist Committee to kill the field marshal. He reached Kiev during the day yesterday.
London, July 3I.—The Amsterdam correspondent of The Daily Express telegraphs:
"The assassination of Field Marshal von Eichhorn, while causing widespread indignation in Germany, must have occasioned little surprise among those who knew what this most ruthless of all the Kaiser's generals had done at Kiev to starve and plunder Ukraine for the benefit of Germany.
"From the very beginning Eichhorn treated the Ukrainians as slaves, whose only reason for living was to see that Germany obtained enough food from the land. His first measure was to force the peasants under the most severe penalties to cultivate the land for the Germans' benefit. His last was to fix a price for corn which would enable the Germans to obtain bread more cheaply, but which would absolutely ruin the Ukraine peasants and landowners.
"The climax was reached when he had two popular members of the first Ukraine Government arrested and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment for plotting against Germany. The sentence of the German field tribunal last week caused general indignation.
"Germany will see to it that Eichhorn's murderer is punished at once, but the matter will certainly not rest there. German journalists who traveled through Ukraine recently all returned to Berlin sounding the note of warning that the Germans were more hated there than anywhere in the world. The fact that Eichhorn's assassin is a Russian and not a Ukrainian is significant."—N. Y. Times, 1/10.
FINLAND
FINNS TO SELECT A KING.—Rumors were abroad at the end of July that Duke Adolph Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had been offered and had accepted the throne of Finland.
Later despatches stated that the Constitutional Committee had reported favorably on the petition to regard Finland as a monarchy and proceed to the election of a king under an old law of 1772, regardless of the fact that for a hundred years, Finland had been a dependency of Russia and had since been declared a republic. The division between monarchical and republican sentiment in the country and in parliament is close, and is sure to be affected by the progress of the war.
FINNS DECORATE KAISER WITH LIBERTY ORDER.—A deputation of Finns on August 4 gave the Kaiser the grand cross of the Order of Liberty. In his speech of acceptance the Kaiser referred to the Finns and Germans as fighting together in the cause of Finnish liberty and independence, and he expressed the hope that this independence would lay the foundation for a trustful and cordial relationship between "two progressive peoples struggling for their freedom."
Declaring that Germany's world struggle had the effect of helping other peoples to burst their bonds and obtain freedom, the Emperor said:
"By our deeds we succeeded, without much talking, in accomplishing what our enemies never tire of proclaiming as their aim, but which they never intend to realize, namely, the protection of small nations in their struggle for freedom."—N. Y. Times, 6/8.
GERMANY
THE KAISER'S ANNIVERSARY PROCLAMATION.—The Kaiser's proclamation to the army and navy on August 1 reads:
"Serious years of war lie behind you. The German people, convinced of its just cause, resting on its hard sword and trusting in God's gracious help, has, with its faithful allies, confronted a world of enemies. Your victorious fighting spirit carried the war in the first year into the enemy's country and preserved the homeland from the horrors and devastation of war.
"In the second and third years of the war you, by your destructive blows, broke the strength of the enemy in the east. Meanwhile, your comrades in the west offered a brave and victorious front to enormously superior forces.
"As the fruit of these victories, the fourth year of the war has brought us peace in the east. In the west the enemy was heavily hit by the force of your assault. The battles won in recent months count among the highest deeds of fame in German history.
"You are in the midst of the hardest struggle. The desperate efforts of the enemy will, as hitherto, be foiled by your bravery. Of that I am certain, and, with me, the entire fatherland."
Herr Fehrenbach, President of the Reichstag, in response to a congratulatory address made to him by the people of Freiburg, said:
"I joyfully look forward to the time when I can offer the victorious Kaiser the thanks of the German nation. True, we are far from that yet, but we must not lose courage, even if some more hundreds of thousands of Americans come over. There is no doubt of final German victory."
ANOTHER GERMAN PEACE FEELER.—Amsterdam, July 24.—Germany has made suggestions for a peace conference to the Spanish Government, says the Socialist newspaper Vorwärts of Berlin.
The suggestions are:
First.—Germany wants no annexations or indemnities in the west.
Second.—The peace treaties with Russia and Rumania may not be questioned.
Third.—The principle of self-determination of peoples has not been discussed, but may be settled at the peace conference, where the fate of Belgium also is to be settled.
Fourth.—The Balkan question is to be settled around the conference table.
Fifth.—The freedom of the seas, the dismantling of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal and the right for Germany to use coaling stations.
Sixth.—The colonial question is to be settled on the basis of the status quo (presumably, status quo ante bellum).
The Vorwärts considers this a very reasonable peace program.
PICKING KINGS FOR SMALL STATES.—A grand assemblage at German Imperial Headquarters was completed on August 15. by the arrival of the Emperor Charles and his suite. Besides the two emperors, there were present the foreign ministers of both central empires, von Hintze and Burian, Helfferich, escaped from the tumult in Russia, Prince Hohenlohe, and Prince Radziwill from Warsaw. The business of the Imperial Conference was reported to be a discussion of the Polish question, of which there are a half-dozen solutions and as many rivals for the throne, as well as the choice of rulers for Lithuania and Finland.
A despatch from The Hague on August 17 stated that Germany was willing to accede to the appointment of an Austrian archduke to the Polish throne, and that the Archduke Karl Stephen was suggested.
Late in July Lithuania was reported to have selected as her ruler Duke William of Urach, a Württemburger general, a choice which aroused German opposition since it was made by the Lithuanian State Council without consulting the Imperial German Government.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
The Austrian cabinet headed by Dr. von Seidler made its final exit on July 21, following the opening of the Reichsrath. Baron von Hussarek, who succeeded as premier, pledged "constitutional cooperation with Parliament." The House then passed the provisional budget for the following six months by the close vote of 215 to 196, with a war credit of six billion kronen. The majority was composed of Christian Socialists, German nationals and radicals, Roumanians, Poles and some Italians.
Presenting his cabinet on July 29, the baron said in part:
So long as our opponents take the standpoint of one-sided dictation there is nothing for us but to continue the war and carry it on so vigorously that it will be shortened.
As in war, so in peace, Austria will not stand alone. Our alliance with Germany is a real affair of the heart and will deepen under the influence of peace. There is nothing menacing in this alliance, the warlike contents of which were forced upon the Central Powers by their opponents and will cease as soon as they extend the hand of peace.
Baron von Hussarek said that the dual monarchy could remain fully confident in its army and alliances to obtain a good and honorable peace.
CONCESSIONS TO SMALL NATIONALITIES RUMORED.—London, August 16.—A plan has been adopted for the formation of a league of Austro-Hungarian states, to be autonomous in dealing with home affairs, according to a Vienna dispatch quoting the Czech radical organ in the Austrian capital.
The Exchange Telegraph correspondent at Copenhagen transmits the dispatch, as printed in the Berlin Vossische Zeitung. The quotation from the Czech organ reads:
"It is learned from a reliable source that Premier Hussarek has reached an understanding with prominent representatives of all the Austrian parties for a complete revision of the Austrian Constitution. It is planned to form a number of states that shall have home rule, including the German, Czech, Polish and South Slavonian states. These with Hungary, will form a league of Austro-Hungarian states."—Baltimore Sun, 17/10.
BALKAN STATES
TURKEY RESTIVE.—A report from London on July 29 stated that "relations between Germany and Turkey have been severed, according to direct information from Constantinople." This story received no trustworthy confirmation, though evidence is abundant of Turkey's anxiety to get out of the war. It was stated that the Germans had demanded the cruiser Hamidieh in compensation for the loss of the Breslau, and that she had departed for Sebastopol under the German flag.
TURKEY AND BULGARIA DISPUTE OVER DOBRUDJA.—Amsterdam, July 30.—Trouble is admittedly brewing among the Central Powers, first between Germany and Austria over the Polish question, and also between Bulgaria and Turkey regarding the Dobrudja. Every possible solution of both questions has been repeatedly discussed by the four governments, but no agreement is likely to be reached.
No peaceful solution is in sight regarding the Turkish-Bulgarian Dobrudja and Adrianople difficulties. The feeling is rising high in both Sofia and Constantinople. The Turks are accusing the Bulgarians as being "the Germans of the Balkans," while the Bulgarians are saying equally hasty things about the Turks.
Zimmermann urges the Central Powers not to fight among themselves during the war, for otherwise "what they have so far managed to gain will probably be lost."—N. Y. Times. 31/7.
GREAT BRITAIN
LLOYD GEORGE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.—On August 7, on the eve of the summer recess, Premier Lloyd George gave before the British House of Commons an admirably clear review of the work of the army and navy and the diplomatic situation. Referring first to the work of the navy, he spoke as follows:
War in Defence of Right.—When the British Empire decided to throw the whole weight of its might into the greatest war the world has ever witnessed, it did not do so because it believed that British soil was to be invaded or even threatened with invasion, but because of an outrage upon international right. Had it not taken that decision the whole course of the war would have been different. The history of the world for generations to come would have taken a different course. I do not wish to exaggerate in the least the part which the British Empire has in the conflict, but a mere glance at the events of the last four years will show how great and how decisive its influence has been upon the turn of those events.
When the war began we had the most powerful navy in the world. It was as powerful as the three next navies of the world, and when units of command is taken into account it was more powerful than the three next navies, but we had the smallest army of any great power in Europe. We had a contract [later the Premier substituted the phrase "obligations of honor" as more accurate] with France that if she were wantonly attacked, the United Kingdom would come to her support. There was no compact as to what forces we should bring into the arena. In any discussion that ever took place in this country or outside there was no idea that we should ever be able to employ a greater force than six divisions. When there was a discussion in the House about the British expeditionary force the maximum was the six-division limit. In whatever arrangement was come to I think history would say that we have more than kept faith.
Work of the British Navy.—I should like to say one word about redeeming the pledge. I do so because there is real danger in the more minutely and constantly described events on land to overlook the part which the British Navy is playing in this conflict. There are two great struggles being carried on, one on land and one on sea. One is carried on almost before our eyes. Incidents are pictured from day to day by men who are engaged especially for the purpose of describing them. Every turn in events is portrayed, unlike the other struggle, that takes place on a vast wilderness of sea over hundreds of thousands of square miles, with no one to witness it or to describe it except those who take part in the fierce struggle.
It has been prolonged four years without a break. No darkness arrests it. No weather and no winter stops it. The navy goes into no winter quarters, the fight is going on without cease.
I do not think that many realize that that is the decisive struggle of the war. Upon its issue the fate of the war depends. If the Allies are defeated the war would not be over until they are beaten. These Germans can never triumph, and in the main this momentous deciding struggle is carried on by the British Navy. There is a disposition even here to take the British Navy for granted, exactly as we took the sea for granted, and in this there is no real effort to understand the gigantic effort which is involved in constructing, in strengthening, in increasing, in repairing, in supplying, in maintaining, and in manning that great machine.
Navy of 8,000,000 Tons.—When the war started the British Navy had a tonnage of 2,500,000. It now has 8,000,000, including the auxiliary fleet. Every trade route of the world is controlled by its ships. Take the blockade alone. From Shetland to Greenland, from Greenalnd to Iceland, from Iceland to the coast of Norway, the most savage waters in the world, always angry. For four years these seas have been incessantly patrolled by the British fleet, who have set up an impenetrable barrier. Elsewhere British shipping has been engaged in patrolling, mine laying, mine sweeping, escorting, chasing submarines over vast and trackless areas. They have destroyed at least 150 of these ocean submarine pests, more than half in the course of the last year.
I will give you a figure which indicates the gigantic character of the work done by the British Navy. In the month of June alone ships of the British Navy steamed 8,000,000 miles. To this must be added the great efforts of the mercantile marine which has now become a branch of the British Navy. It faced the same dangers in caring for the Allies, as well as ourselves.
Brought Most of the Americans.—Most of the American troops who have so gallantly acquitted themselves in France in the recent conflicts were carried on British ships.
It is difficult to make those who do not understand ships comprehend what a gigantic effort it means to keep this immense machine going. There is rather a tendency to divide our efforts into two branches—men for the army, ships for the navy. I wonder how many people understand the number of men required to man and maintain the British Navy and the British mercantile marine. At least 1,500,000. Probably eight or nine hundred thousand were men of military age. We have made every attempt to comb out when there was a great pressure, but we found that it was impossible to do so without letting the British fleet down. To let the British fleet down was to let the Allies down.
The Germans, during the last two years, have made two distinct attempts to force a decision, one on the sea, the other on land. They attempted the land offensive, because the sea offensive failed, but they knew that the sea offensive would be the more vital of the two. The land offensive might have been disastrous; the other, if it had succeeded, would have been final. If the submarines had succeeded, our army in France would have withered away, no Americans could have come over to assist us, ammunition could not have been sent across, nor the necessary coal and material to enable France and Italy to manufacture munitions. France and England would have been starved. The war would have been over before that stage could have been reached.
I am not minimizing the great assistance rendered by the great navies of America, France, Italy and Japan, but the British fleet is so incomparably greater, and its operations are on a scale of so much greater magnitude, that I dwell specially on this in order that the mainstay of these special efforts should be realized.
The American Naval Mission which came over here the other day saw a good deal of the efforts of the British Navy, and were immensely struck with the vastness of the work which was being done. They were specially anxious that steps should be taken to make known not merely here, but in America, the gigantic character of the task which is being undertaken.
Unless the Allies had been completely triumphant from the outbreak of the war at sea, no effort on land would have saved us. The British fleet was mainly responsible for that complete triumph. Any destruction of our resources which would have impaired in the least this triumph, would have been ruinous to the cause of the Allies.
The Premier then turned to the work of the army, pointing out that the downfall of Russia had enabled Germany to undertake an offensive which had caused the Allies some anxious moments, forcing Great Britain to increase her man power and to throw 268,000 men across the Channel in two weeks' time and 355,000 in a month's time. The aid of America and the adoption of central military control under General Foch had been instrumental in changing the fortunes of the campaign. "Militarily," the Premier said, "they are past the height of their endeavors. At sea they know they have failed.
Regarding the Allies' Russian policy, he spoke as follows:
The idea that we are behaving hostilely toward a great democratic government has nothing in common with the facts of the case. There is no democratic government in Russia now. Whatever its professions it is a government by force, and our only policy was to deal with the de facto government, and that is not easy. We have not the slightest desire to interfere with the Russian people and we have certainly no intention of imposing upon them any particular government. That is a matter entirely for themselves, but when we see Germany imposing her authority on large tracts and exploiting or attempting to exploit them to the detriment of the Allies, against the will of the people, we feel at any rate that the Russian people ought to be free to decide for themselves.
Recent events, violent as they are, demonstrate that they regard the Germans as marauders, and the Russian people is more and more seeking Allied assistance. We shall not hesitate to render every help in our power to liberate them from this cruel oppression.
Defends Policy in Siberia.—The Czecho-Slovak movement is a very remarkable movement. The only desire of the Czecho-Slovak was to leap Russia and to come to the west to fight for the Allies. They asked us for ships, and we made arrangements to get ships to bring them away. I say this because I wish to make it clear that we are not exploiting the Czecho-Slovaks in order to interfere with Russian internal affairs. We took ships away from very important and essential work elsewhere in order to send them to Vladivostok.
Acting undoubtedly under German duress, the Bolshevist Government refused to allow them to get to Archangel and Vladivostok. If the Czecho-Slovaks have now become the center of activities which are hostile to the Bolshevist Government in Russia the Bolshevist Government have themselves to blame and no one else. The first thing they asked the Czecho-Slovaks to do was to disarm. They would have been lunatics if they had handed over their arms. You cannot blame the Czecho-Slovaks for getting assistance whenever and from wherever they could in order to save themselves.
We are told that Siberia is Bolshevist. If that is so, why do not the Siberians support that government. They could not get a decent sized army, and so German and Austrian prisoners have been ordered to attack the Czecho-Slovaks and to prevent them getting to Vladivostok.
I want to make that clear, because there has been some criticism of the action of the President of the United States in the decision he has taken in conjunction with Japan to send forces to Vladivostok in order to rescue the Czecho-Slovaks from the plight that they have been put into by the organization of German and Austrian prisoners of war.
No Time for Peace.—I have only a few words to say about what has been said about peace. There are people who seem to consider any effort to make peace as in itself dishonorable and treason to their country. That attitude must be steadfastly discouraged, but is this a moment—I put it to those who only want an honorable peace—when such a peace could be made? Why did we go into the war? Because the instinct and conscience of the British people told them that something, which is fundamental to human happiness and to human progress, was put in jeopardy by the great military power of Germany. That will remain indelible as long as the caste that made the war is in supreme command in Germany. Has there been any change in that respect? Let us take recent events, such as the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, when some German statesmen went in, I believe, with intention of negotiating a peace, which, according to their minds, would be fair. What happened? As soon as there was any indication that there was to be anything but a humiliating and drastic peace imposed upon Russia, the German high command swept aside Count von Hertling, von Kühlmann, and Czernin, and imposed their own terms. The next step was the humiliating and enslaving peace imposed upon Rumania. The third test was what happened after Baron Kühlmann's speech in the Reichstag, in which he ventured to say things which I should have thought perfectly obvious to any one who had witnessed the course of the war from the point of view of the Germans. In a few days he was swept away. What did that mean? It meant that the people who made the war were still prosecuting their sinister aims. You cannot have peace as long as they are predominant in the councils of our chief enemy.
Warns of Peace Trickery.—I believe in a league of nations, but whether a league of nations is going to be a success or not will depend upon the conditions under which it is set up. Some of us here have been members of representative assemblies for a generation. Every one knows that when any great decision is to be taken what determines it is not so much as what is said, as the fact that there is some power behind it, which takes a certain view and has the power to enforce that view. It is the electorate here.
In any league of nations let us take care that it is not the sword. The same thing might conceivably happen to a league of nations unless you started under favorable conditions. You might enter it, the Germans not saying it in words, but saying in their action, "We have invaded your lands, we have devastated them, we have trampled you under foot, you failed to drive us back, you made no impression upon our armies; they were absolutely intact when peace was declared; had it not been for our economic difficulties you would never have won, and we will take great care next year that we shall not be short of rubber, corn and other essentials.
"Every time you came to a decision the Prussian sword would clank on the council table. What is the good of entering into a league of nations of that sort? We all want peace, but it must be a peace which is just. It must be a peace which is durable. We don't want to put this generation or the next through the horrors of this war. To be durable, it must be just. It must be more, there must be a power behind it, a power that can enforce its decrees, and all who enter that conference must know that inside that league such a power does exist. And when you have demonstrated even to the enemy that such a power does exist, durable peace will then come, but no sooner."
HOME RULE TO BE PUSHED THROUGH.—Replying to an inquiry by John Dillon, the Irish Nationalist leader, concerning the government's Irish policy, Edward Shortt, Secretary for Ireland, stated in the House of Commons on August 8 that he would be engaged during the recess on a Home Rule Bill, which would be likely to pass the House. Mr. Shortt further announced the government's determination to seize 50,000 rifles said to be in the hands of Ulsterites.
On June 25, Premier Lloyd George reaffirmed both the policy of home rule and of conscription, but stated that the volunteer system would first be tried. Irish leaders assert that the enforcement of conscription now, with or without home rule, will bring serious consequences.
LORD LANSDOWNE'S SECOND PEACE APPEAL—Peace discussions were again urged in a letter by Lord Lansdowne that was read at a conference of his supporters in London on July 31. After showing that the civilized world is being drained of its resources and dwelling on the tragic loss of life—which has been estimated at 7,000,000—and on the declining birth rate, Lord Lansdowne declared that the desire for peace is widespread, but that instead of searching for points of agreement, representatives of the belligerents had merely indulged in recriminations and controversies. He urged that the moment when the Allies are proving their ability to hold their own in the world-wide struggle is more opportune than any other for considering reasonable proposals.—N. Y. Nation, 10/8.
THE SITUATION IN AFRICA.—The significance of the British determination not to allow East Africa to revert to German hands is largely concerned with the Cape-to-Cairo Railway. It is now realized that Germany had laid plans for checkmating both the political and the commercial aims of the great transcontinental system. German maps of East Africa, drawn before the war, show several projected parallel railroad lines crossing the German territory from the coast, and stretching out their tentacles to the Congo and beyond toward the Atlantic seaboard. These roads crossed at several points the proposed route of the Cape-to-Cairo line. Had they been completed, they not only would have enabled Germany to control strategically the whole rival system extending north and south, but to extend her grip on the entire basin of the Congo; eventually she might even have essayed to conquer, as well, the Portuguese and French Atlantic colonies.
Fortunately these contingencies are made remote by the events of the war. Germany no longer has a foothold in Africa. The course of the Cape-to-Cairo road lies entirely within territory controlled by the Allies. The war has not arrested the progress of construction, and each year some notable additions are made to the long line.
It is not unlikely that the great road from end to end of Africa will figure in the peace councils. Eradication of Germany from participation in the undertaking, and from all opportunity of continuing active hostility toward it clears the ground for an amicable program of joint effort among the Allies, and assures a peaceful and generous development of Africa's resources. Although Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Belgium are the only nations now concerned in building up means of communication in Africa, there is, indeed, a strong probability that some degree of railway internationalization will result from peace-council endeavors to adjust the colonial claims of the belligerents. This would be a long stride in the direction of international control of Central Africa, between the Zambesi and the Sahara, as advocated by the British Labor Party, and by a growing number of publicists and statesmen in Great Britain and the Allied nations.—The Bellman.
UNITED STATES -
JOINT ALLIED NOTE TO MEXICO ON OIL DECREE.—Washington, August 15.— The United States and Great Britain have joined in diplomatic representations to the Mexican Government against the oil land decrees of President Carranza, which, it is contended, amount practically to confiscation.
Meanwhile, the American and English oil companies have united in an agreement to refuse to meet the terms of the decrees, which they contend would take the properties from them, and have agreed among themselves to depend upon their governments for protection of their interests.
These two developments mark the progress of a situation in Mexico which is generally regarded as growing in its possibilities of embarrassment for the nations engaged in the war against Germany. Representatives of the American oil companies in support of their contention that Mexico's action is of advantage to Germany quote Manager Ballin of the Hamburg-American Line, who recently stated publicly that "after the war is over we are assured of extensive oil possessions overseas."
The Allies need this year 430,000,000 barrels of crude oil for which they depend entirely upon the United States. The United States can produce not over 315,000,000 barrels. The Mexican fields can supply 130,000,000 barrels. All the oil in Mexico is owned by American and British companies. Under the newest decree, Mexico attempts to make oil the property of the nation. Mexican petroleum then would become a nationally owned contraband and as such might not be sold by a neutral country to a belligerent under international law. To endow petroleum with that character and prevent shipment of it to the Allies is said to be the purpose of German propaganda in Mexico.—N. Y. Times, 16/8.
LOANS TO THE ALLIES.—Loans to the Allies to the amount of $6,492,040,000 had been made by the government of the United States up to the end of July. The treasury is advancing credit to the Allies at the rate of about $10,000,000 a day. The total disbursements for July reached the new high record of $1,608,282,000, including $1,259,000,000 for ordinary government war expenses and $343,000,000 in loans to the Allies.—N. Y. Nation, 10/8.