The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1917. RUSSIA AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3089, 21 May 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1917. RUSSIA AND THE WAR

'At the- moment of writing, news ■•Trom Russia is decidedly mom hopeful than it has been in recent clays. Some correspondents, it is true, continue (;o paint a gloomy picture, but the chief commanders of tho Russian Army are more optimistic/ According to reports which appear to-day, General Alexieff and his principal colleagues; including Gen : I EiUL Brusiloff, have stated that the I formation of a Coalition Government will restore discipline in tho array, which is enthusiastic over the Appointment of M. Kerenski as Minister of War. From a later message, it appears that a Coalition Cabinet has now been constituted, and it is understood also that .Generals Bkusiloff and Gurko have 'withdrawn their resignations and returned to the front. These reports are cheering, and'if the trend they indicate is maintained it will follow that the situation and outlook in Russia have undergone a. radical improvement. The worst and most .alarming news which has come through since the revolution was the announcement that the military commanders named had resigned. The withdrawal of their resignations would bo correspondingly important as indicating an improvement in tho outlook They are not. likely to reassume their commands unless they ■seo a reasonably good prospect of the creation, of a stable central authority, 1e their general tendency the reports quoted gain colour from the statement that General Alexieff and othor military commanders have had several conferences with the Government ou tho subject of munitions supplies. The reference to the spirit in which the army regards tho appointment of M. Kerenski is probably not overdrawn. The new Minister of War ; lacks some of the special qualifications of his predecessor. M. Guchkoff took a leading in the reorganisation and mqbisation of Russia's war industries; and M. Kehenski has had little, if anything, to do with such activities. ' On tho other hand, he probably enjoys a much wider popularity.. A Socialist and a brilliant orator, ho has been cons'tantly_ before the people, and is likely to inspire much greater confidence in tho mass of tho peoplo and in the army than M. Guchkoff, whoso merits and ability have- beon demonstrated chiefly in work clone out of the public gaze. At the same time, M. Kerenski is no mere demagogue No 'man has pleaded more earnestly or more eloquently for the disciplined effort that is needed to win the war. And to judge-by his recent public utterances, no man realises more clearly that if Russia fails to compass orderly government and an orderly military effort she will not only impair Allied prospects in the war. but will run a grave risk of sacrificing the future of freedom which the revolution has made possible. Tho better prospects now opening will soon be definitely tested. The outcome cannot, of course, be predicted with certainty, but something is to be hoped from the sobering influence of office upon the, Socialist members of the reconswuefced Cabinet. From the standpoint of the ability and qualifications of its individual members, the Cabinet is probably not improved by the process of reconstruction. Certainly some of the ablest and best-informed public men in Russia have been discarded or relegated to less important positions than they held in the Provisional Government as it originally constituted. On the other hand, the new Cabinet is better representative than its predecessor of the parties that are active and vocal in Russian public life at the present moment, and the Socialist Ministers, when they come lo actually deal with the problems and issues which they have discussed hitherto as comparatively irresponsible critics, may be impelled to a, decided change in opinions and attitude. Further news which is arriving shows that tho new Government, and particularly the Minister of War, are setting themselves determinedly to restore order and efficiency, and the statement is made by General Alexieff that if the Government is invested with ul , disputed authority and left unhindered by irresponsible outsiders, the army will soon be restored to its former strength and organisation. Jn considering the possibilities of improvement and reform, it should riot be forgotten that in Russia authority ill matters of war organisation is delegated to other bodies than the central Government to an extent unknown in any other country. It is at the centre that the machinery qf Government has lately'been cast into almost hopeless, confusion, and the restoration of order and efficiency, assuming that matters take that course, will be facilitated by the organisation of the Zemstvos and other bodies which have assumed a great part of the work of carrying' on tho war. Tho extent to which the course ot events in Russia will influence the general trend of the war remains a matter of conjecture, but both as regards prospects in Russia and in

the war aa & whole it is of good augury that Germany at the present time ii< patently committed to a pohoy of striving for immediate results. If she expected Russia's military tffort to collapse, and on other grounds Imped to profit by lengthening out tho war, she would, of course, pursue a different policy. One report to-day states that Beth-MANN-HoLMVEO and Count CzerNin (the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister) lately agreed upon a greatly modified peaco offer to the Allies, and that the offer would have been made but for the interposition of the Kaiser and the uncompromising militarists of his immediate entourage. This may or may not be true, but it is consistent with the evidence afforded in tho theatres of war. Germany's tactics at present speak rather of desperation than of a belief that she will before long find herself in a much stronger position, relatively to her enemies, than she holds at present. Her tactics in tho Western theatre for weeks past have involved the cost, without producing the results, of an offensive. There is news also of an enemy massed attack in the region of Vladimir Volynsk, on a vitally important section of the front in Southern Russia. This does not suggest that the enemy hopes for a cessation of hostilities in the Eastern theatre, .or is likely to go much further in weakening his Eastern armies. Events at sea promise to afford as definite evidence as theland campaigns that the enemy has staked all his hopes upon gaining quick results, and that these hopes are tending to disappear. After reaching'an unprecedented height a few weeks ago, the destruction of merchant shipping by the siTbmar-' incs has fallen away, and the only convincing explanation offered is that the increase was accomplished by putting the largest possible number of submarines into commission, and that the reduction now in evidence is due to the destruction of submarines at such a rate that Germany is unable to maintain tho strength of her flotillas.' A report to-day, not the first on the subject, declares that twelve German submarines were destroyed from May 1 to May 5, and all the information available suggests that Germany mado the effort noted at such a cost in submarines that its continuance 'is impossible. It is the more likely that matters have actually taken a turn for the better in Russia since the available evidence of events on land and sea manifestly suggests that Germany seized upon the conditions arising out of tho Russian revolution; not as permanently improving her position in tho war, but as affording her a temporary opportunity.