BRITAIN'S HELP TO RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 5

BRITAIN'S HELP TO RUSSIA

. 0 . SOME REMINDERS OF FACTS BY THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR In reply to a question, as to what form of government in Russia the Allies would consider as recognised and supported by the people, the British Ambassador. Sir George Buchanan, said in a recent interview that Great Britain's position was that sucli a government most naturally would come from the Constituent Assembly, although it might come from some other source. The Ambassador explained that Great Britain considered it necessary first to discuss peace terms among the Allies, before taking them up with the enemy, and on that account could not participate in the armistice negotiations. He added that he had ,taken r.o action towards recognition of the People's Commissaries. Sir George reminded liis interviewers that without the British fleet and volunteer armies Russia to-day would be Germany's vassal, that autocracy would be* supreme in Europe, and that there would have been no revolution in Russia, no liberty for the people. He asked if the British were not entitled to be treated as friends" instead of as the objects of scurrilous attacks. He declared that the Bolshevik Premier, Kikolai Lenip, had placed the British on a level lower than the Turks, to whom he would hand over Armenia. The position of Englishmen in Russia at the present moment was unenviable. They were attacked or regarded with suspicion. There was no foundation for suspicion, unless it was a crime to defend one's country against the calumnies of German agents. The Ambassador said he ventured to address a word of -warning to the Russian democracy. He knew the Russian leaders were animated by the sincere desire to create a brotherhood. Nevertheless, speeches delivered against Great Britain and attempts to provoke a revolution in the British Isles were merely steeling the resolve of the British to fight the war to the end, rallying the people around the Government. Not the Way to Durable Peace. The Ambassador declared the Russian Commissaries were mistaken in thinking that a durable peac& could be obtained by asking 'the Germans for an armistice, tc be followed by an agreement! The Allies, he said, wished to arrive first at a general agiecaient in harmony with their declared war aims, and then to ariauge an hvmistice. Hitherto not one word likq been said by any German statesman in show that the ideals ct the Russian democracy were shared by Emperor William and his Govennnent, the Ambassador said. It was with the German autocracy, not with the German people, that the armistice negotiations were being conducted. He asked whether it was likely that the Emperor, when once he knew the Russian Army had ceased to exist as a fighting force, would be disposed to subscribe.to a democratic and durable peace. On the contrary, the peace'contemplated by tho' Emperor was a German Imperialistic peace. Although the Allies could not send representatives to teke part in the armistice negotiations, they were ready, said Sir George, as soon as a stable Government, recognised by the Russian people, had been constituted, to examine with that Government the aims of the war and the possible conditions of a just and durable peace. In the meantime tho Allies were giving Russia the most effective assistance by holding the hulk of the German armies on their respective fronts. The Am-

bassador reiterated Great Britain's desire to stand by Russia in this critic*! hour, and asked whether the same could be said of Russian feelings toward Great Britain. He remarked that hardly a day passed that did not witness a bitter attack on Great Britain in tho official newspapers, giving tho impression that Britain, not Germany, ' was Russia's enemy and the provokcr of tho war. Coercion Not Contemplated. > Great Britain bore the Russians no 1 grudge, realising they were worn out 1 by the sacrifices of war and the general * disorganisation inseparable from a ' great political revolution, the Ambas- ■ sador said. Denying reports of con- '■ templated coercive or punitive action ' in the event that Russia should make a 1 ' separate peace, Sir George nevertheless asserted the Allies were entitled ' to complain that the Council of Peo- | pie's Commissaries had beeir negotiat- . ing with the enemy without previously consulting the Allies, which was a J breach of tho London Agreement of , 1914. It could not be admitted for a' moment that a, treaty concluded by tho , , autocratic Government did not bind the j democracy whereby the autocracy was ]', replaced. Nevertheless Great Britain , i did not wish to induce an unwilling [ ally to continue to share in the comt mon effort by appealing to treaty > rights. But there were higher prin--1 ciples to which appeal might be made. ; These, he said, were principles recog- . ! nised by the Commissaries, namely, , those of a democratic peace, a peace i which accorded with tho wishes of tho j smaller nationalities, which repudiated . the 'idea of exacting plunder from n. i conquered enemy under the name of . indemnity or of incorporating reluctant i Deputations in groat empires. Sucl. i broadly sneaking, was tho neace Greet; ) Britain, equally with the Russian de- ) mocracy, dosired to see obtained.