PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3188, 12 September 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The outlook in Russia-is not made brighter by the news that M. Kerensky has. denounced General Korniloff as a traitor, and ordered him to surrender his functions as Com-mander-in-Chief. a number of respects tho position is obscure, but it.will be noted that while M.. Kerensky accuses General Korniloff of an attempt to displace tho Provisional Government and upset tho Revolution, some reports indicate that Korniloff is not so much intent on gaining a political object aupon restoring efficiency in the armies by establishing a military dictatorship. It is possible that both M. Kerensky and General Korniloff are acting in honest good faith, but their dissensions threaten to fatally complioatc' tho difficulties under'which Russia is already'ab.ouring. At present there is no indication that General Korniloff has obeyed tho order to lay down his command, an d a, struggle for supremacy is which' may lead to even greater disasters than Russia has yet experienced. The position is all the graver since there is reason to believe that General Korniloff may be strongly supported by tho more moderate parties in Russia, between whom and tho Socialists the breach has recently been widening.

'As one message states, tho strength of tho rival parties in Russia 'is obscure. Tho developments now reported, however, threaten to set the Socialists, both tho Maximalist extremists, who have dono so much to demoralise the Army, and tho more moderate section to which M. Kerensky belongs, in opposition to the progressive bourgeois elements. Tho most important of these and tho most radical are the Constitutional Democrats. Hopes were entertained until recently that this party and other sections of the progressive bloc might co-operate with tlio moderate Socialists in restoring order in Russia and reorganising the armies. These hopes were weakened by tho outcome of the recent ;Moscow Conference, and have now all but disappeared. Though it has hitherto been set aside by the Socialists, the progressive_ bloc wields considerable influence in the country, and if it challenges tho supremacy -of the Socialists tho resultant conflict will certainly be serious. * * * * ■

It is said that the Cossacks,' amongst other groups and parties in Russia, are supporting General Korniloff, and this is the more likely to be true since he is himself a Cossack. To-day's'report regarding tho Cossacks suggests that _ they jiave departed from tho attitude they are said to have taken at their recent congress—namely, that Cossackdoro, while remaining a full member of the Russian State, under whatever form it might eventually assume, had no intention of restoring order in Russia at large. Tho Cossacks have played a great part in the war. When it began they immediately contributed half a milli *n men to tho Russian armies, and they havo declared that if need be they will mobilise all ages from 14 to 60. All reports,agree that the Cossacks aro untouched by tho demoralisation which has gained such disastrous head in Russia. The Council of the Union of the Cossacks Forces,' " one English correspondent wrote recently, (( is the only oig«uiised hodv which has properly appreciated, in its public appeal to the nation, the great change'in Russia s position \vhich, has been effected by the' recent renewal of active warfare. It is not too much to say that at the present moment the whole future of Russia seems to rest in the hands of tho organised Cossack forccs. They are the one organised fighting force and political power

combined which to-day stand absolutely solid in Russia for law and order. Revolutionaries against ilie regime of Tsardom they have alwaysbeen, and their whole history is that of revolts every few years- against all attempts to curb their freedom. The Cossacks alone have not lost thoir heads in tho wild delirium 'if abderilis which has carricd the rest of Russia boyond all limits of conimonsense and dccency. General KORNILOFF is a Cossack, but this is not the reason for the Cossack attitude to tho.renewal of warfare. They regard it from the higher standpoint of tho statesman, and the proclamation issued by the Council of their Union is notable as fh? first utterance of the true voice of Russia if wo except the remarkable proclamations of tho Women's Battalion of Death. The following passage contains a veiled but unmistakable expression of > the Cossack views on those extremists who ha\re hitherto called the tune for the nominal government of New Russia: 'No crafty tricksters, no cunning falsehoods of German qqenU-provo-catcurs and their servile followers, have succeeded in extinguishing or eating .away with their corrupting bane from the heart of tho Russian citizen in arms the love of his native land the lovo for the nation, fle-m of whose flesh and bono of whose bone ho was, is, and over shall be. The "words which I italicise have a specific meaning which united Cossackdom is prepared at any moment to translate into action by force ot arms. The proclamation ends with a declaration of loyalty to tho Provisional Government, upon whoso word Cossackdom waits to take tho drastic action which shall bring back Health to the brain-sick Russian people." 4 ,

Existing conditions in Russia obvioiisly do not make for effective action on the fighting front, north of Riga* o l ' elsewhere, but at time oi writing no important military development is reported. Tho suggestive news 'is transmitted in a itnssian communique, however, that onemy mine-swecpors aro working at the entrance to the Gulf of Riga. These craft must, .of course, bebacked by naval foTco, and substance is thus given to reports thati tne Germans intend to support. their offensive on land by fleet co-opera-tion. Eeverything now depends upon tho development of the internal situation m Russia. A late message states that a «®P u ™f tion of Cossacks interviewed M. Kerensky and informed him that they would do their utmost to settle tho dispute between General ivoitniloff and the Provisional Government in order to avert civil war. It is added that tho deputation proceeded to Army Headquarters with this object, after reaching an agreement with Kerensky. From this it would seem that General Kokniloff has'not laid down his command and also that the Cossacks are not at all inclined to accept the denunciation of that officer as » traitor. At the same time, a s raised that a peaceful settlement may be reached, and civil war ed Such an outcomo; however,' oannot yet bo takon for granted.