SEPARATE PEACE SENSATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3116, 21 June 1917, Page 5

SEPARATE PEACE SENSATION

SWISS MINISTER EXPOSED '." ■)■■■_■■■ DISORDERLY DEBATE IN ;-■•'•■ <' SWISS CHAMBER ■• RUSSIA PREPARING \ TO STRIKE " CHEERING, STATEMENT BY THE '. . FRENCH MINISTER A cheering note is struck by M. Thomas, the French Minister at Petrogradl in a dispatch to-day. In a few weeks' time, ho says, in ef- . feet, the Germans will have an opportunity of testing their theory that ' Russia, as an offensive factor in the theatre of war, is down and out.. Heading between the lines of what M. Thomas says, the Russian Army may shortly be expected to surprise the Germans. Tho latest sensation ; is the exposure of tho Swiss Minis terial head for the Political Depart-ment-equivalent practically to the sphere of a Foreign Ministry-as a Pro-German intriguer for a separate peace with Russia. The affair has led to a stormy debato in the Swiss Chamgcr, and the resignation of the Minister (It. Hoffmann). Sir Douglas Haig, in a long and'most interesting dispatch reviewing the British operations during tho winter campaign, explains tho raison d'etre of many local actions, and shows that all wero part of a carefully-thought-out plau for the preparation of the spring offensive s>.nd the forcing of the enemy back, on his new Hindeaburg lino of defence. The Spanish crisis still continues to simmur omin" ' ously, although, the Premier (Senor Dato) has made a reassuring decla-