NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16153, 6 March 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

RUSSIA'S TRAGEDY. If we regard thai Leninite revolution as the first act ijj/tho Russian tragedy, tho signing of the ignominious peace treaty with Germany at Bres't-Litovsk on Sunday may as the clos. toe scene—th© "curiam" in the second . act. "What the third act will be like we hare yet to see. That it will round off the tragedy cannot be doubted. It will be' of interest at this stage to give the principal terms on which, towards tho end of last month, Germany intimated her readiness to conclude peace with Russia. They were as follows :— The regions west of the line indicated at Brest-Litovsk to the Russian delegation formerly belonging to Russja, are no longer under Russian territorial, protection; in the region of Dvinsk this line must be advanced to the eastern frontl&K of Courland. Germany and define the further fate of these regichjs in agreement . with their populations. " Livonia and Esthonia mum, be v immediately cleared of Russian troops and the Red Guards, ancy be occu- . pied by Geirman police till/security is guaranteed by their constitutions. Russia to conclude/ peace with Ukraine and evacuate/Ukraine and Finland. j Russia to do her inmost to secure the orderly return o/the eastern Anatolian frontiers (if Asia Minor) tc Turkey. / Complete demobilisation of th< Russian army. / Rmssian fleets, /including Entente •warships, must bp kept in Russiai harbours till a general peace, or bi disarmed. The Rnsso-Gqrman commercia treaty of 1904 to come into force. Thi freo export of oresViust be guaran teed. A new commercial treaty mus bo negotiated. s- \ . . Russia to prdmise toVnd her propaganda *ganda against tho QuadVuplice. These conditions had tc\ be acceptei a 48 hours, and the peace treaty em iodying them signed withirf three days thff treaty to be ratified Within a fori night. / Subsequent demands included the paj tnent of a huge indemnity, and it i now stated—-in confirmation of the "re port that Germany meant to exact sti] harsher terms if her original demand were not accepted in the period statedthat the new termk compel Russia t cedo the Batoum, Kars, and what i probably the Erivan districts. WHAT THE TERMS MEAN.. As wgs . mentioned at the time, th< original "terms were published, Germany's aim is to make the Baliic a German lake, by securing Russia's Baltic Provinces of Esthonia, Livonia, and Courland, to establish a. chain of buffei States between herself and Russiatributary dependent States would better describe them if they once com© under the control of Germany—and to secure / herself on tho Black Sea by way of the Ukraine. The latter purposo has been strengthened by the successful demand for the Transcaucasian districts of Batoum, Kars, and Erivan, for with the Ukraine under her thumb'and Turkey hor more or less obedient ally

(in other words her vassal), Germany would absolutely control the Black tea. The Ukraine would give her the richest wheat lands of Russia, tb c possession of Batoum would place in her hands the outlet of the great oil districts or Baku, on the Caspian, while the control of Kars and Erivan would her to protect the pipe-line nearly WW >> miles in length, bv which the oil is conveyed to Batoum. and thence to nc shipped to home and foreign iiunkets. Apart from the.se advantages, t.) session of these huge tracts of tcrntoiy —the Ukraine alone includes more than 200,000 square miles, with a population of over thirty millions, would immensely strengthen Germany's hold on the l " East, and would bring her into rlangerix ous proximity to Persia and India. Ic . ""SAYING THE REVOLUTION '' The most amazing thing about Germaiiv's terms is not their far-reaching nature —under the circumstances one is almost surprised at her moderation, for if .she had demanded more she could no doubt have got it —but the reason that has been given for their acceptance, according to the Pctrograd correspondent of "Tho Times, ' Lenin, the Bolshevik Premier, was the chief advocate for acquiescence. He declared that it was impossible seriously to resist !y the enemy, and that it was necessary to ly sign peace in order to save tho revolution and maintain the authority of the Soviet. Five commissioners voted ror the acceptance of tbc terms and four r " against, tho majority vot© being finally k1 given for peace by the unexpected if change in the attitude of Irotzky, a r fact which gives colour to the report that he has for long been in German 1C pa v. Paris papers have rigntlv do'c claro:! that both Lenin and Trotzky 1- have for ever dishonoured the rcvolurt tiou. Both as accomplices and dupes i. they played Germany's game, and placed Russia under servitude, while falserc ly pretending to be her liberators. The a Russian treason shows where peace at any pricc leads. 'Ihe revolution in tho 0 _ condition to which Bolshevik rule had ,• brought it, was not worth Xho. saving at the cost of an acre of Russian soil. r,t It has dragged the namo of Russia is in the mire, destroyed all belief in its good faith, and i honour, and brought _ civil war and famine and untold miser*- upon t.ie land. Russia in/the earlier stages of thcMvar was more a united Empire than it had ever been before; to-day it i': a congeries of warring States, a country disorganised beyond belief, and a p'rev to a crafty and powerful y enemy. All hope of Russia re-assert-ing itself as the powerful ally she once > B promised to be disappeared months ago when the Bolshevik lunacy came IS to a head. Lenin and Trotzky first; destroyed the discipline of the army, !S and then blamed th© troops for rej belling against their discipline and ior " refusing to fight, while their unfortut uate followers pinned their faith to a propaganda of disaffection among the enemy. If it were not so tragic there 0 would be something amusing in their 0 indignant surprise when the mad d;;g, instead of wagging his tail when :.u----0 dressed in soothing words, promptly bit tlieni.