PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 134, 23 February 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The Bolshevik Government, it is stated to-day, has decided, by five votes to _ four, to accept the German ultimatum. If, as the same message states, the Bed Guards are oiiaring. no opposition to the German advanoo, even leaving their ammunition and supplies behind them, there does not appear to beanything olse the Bolshevik Government could do. ..The loss of the Ukraine has'robbed them of' their food supply, and they are faced with certain defeat. Lenix,- it appears, was. the chief advocate for peace, Trotsky for -war, The German peace terms, according to a ■ message from' Petrograd : dated February 19, include the' retention of Poland,' Lithuania, fi,iga, ' arid-. Mohn Island, with an indemnity of ' 800 millions sterling, which, it la 1 hoped, will be reduced by half. It ' is easy to understand the attitude < of Lenin and those who voted with him on the peace question. The!real < aim, of the Bolsheviki is a kind of Socialist Utopia, where nobodyiwill ' be rich and everybody will be satis-- v fied. 'If they-can'.c'omproinise with their principal enemy they evidently hope; to be allowed to work out their aims, .in whatever territory ( the Germans .will agree to leave , them. It -is a forlorn hope for a" -i Socialist, proletariat that has defied : £ the rights of property, repudiated" 1 its financial obligations, ancl : c brought ruin, poverty, and misery, v upon hundreds of thousands of •! people within its own borders.';- t Tjiotsky, more practical in the pur- <! suit of his aimsf is evidently pro- I : perly appreciative of the fact thaV it is not enough to establish by mob I violence a Socialist tyranny over t .the Russian people—that, which has t beeri'seized.must..bc ; defended, that ,s which . has been . 'established by 0 force of arms, must be-maintained v by force of arms. • ' ;

, The main anxiety- of the Germans in this northern march is. to prevent the spread westward of the dangerous menace of the Bolshevik doctrine. ' Of all things, they fear most an internal revolt against the Junker autocracy. The renewal of hostilities cannot be an. altogether un-. welcome/ event to the' Kaiser and his party, for at one stroke they ; can scotch the Bolshevik propaganda arid at the same. time, say to their people: "See! We have won for you new territory and a huge ' indemnity, and secured our eastern frontiers against the violence of the Bolshevik mob."

Recent news from Southern Russia has been most conflicting and unreliable. General AlExieff has been variously reported as having won a great victory, as having fled to the mountains, v as advancing on ! a definite plan of campaign. Tho. 1 plain fact.is that the Russian situation in the south is obscure and awaits a definite clearing up from a reliable source. The nearest approach ;to a definite statement on. the subject appears this morning in a London_2'jWs dispatch, via Petrograd, which gives a circumstantial' account of ■ General Alexieff's plans and prospects. > By establishing conjunction wiift four other generals—one of whom is ICorniloff —he proposes to institute a' block-, tide line cutting off Northern and Central Russia, and make a clean sweep of the Southern Bolsheviki. Alexieff's suporior discipline, ability, with a large staff of officers, are admirable assets for success, but, as the writer points out, his crucial difficulty will be to secure sufficient guns and munitions.'

: „ A timely reminder of the • fact that the British Navy, in its unostentatious way-, is conducting-an : , effective war against the enemy at sea is given by Admiral Lord Jellicoe in a specch at the Aldwych Club (reported to-day). Evidently apropos of the recent attack on the Dover patrol, Loud Jellicoe points, out that these cut-arid-ruh affairsmust, i.i the nature of the' case, be expected to occur occasionally, even frequently." "The visibility .-of'the enemy's 'destroyers' at night," he says, "may be represented by a' pinpoint on a_ big- map of the North Sea." As in the case of their reception by tho British destroyers Swift and Broke, _ the Germans sometimes burn their fingers badly. Again: "There arc no targets for our submarines—the enemy only comes out once v. year." It is al-' most a.pity, if only for the sake of' cheering the pessimists, that ; the geographical positions of the reuner.tivfi navies c.nuld not be reversed

for, say, • a week, and British destroyers given" a chance to' prove their mettle. "You do not hear of the visits we pay in German waters, says Lokd Jellicoe, "but the Germans know about them." The 1 obvious comment here is—if the Germans know about these visits, what is the use of concealing the good news about them from the British public 1 Why should the Navy hide its light. under a bushel 1 ■

It is ' characteristic of the German as a lighter that when ho is outclassed he howls for mercy. The Germans were the first to: resort, to the use of that infamous weapon in modern warfare, poison gas. With this unfair advantage he managed to score some successes till the Allies, in sheer self-defence, were forced to adopt retaliatory measures. The position on'tho battlefronts to-day, acoording to a "high military, fiuthority," is that ' wo have obtained superiority over the Germans with a deadlier gas and bettor protective measures. The Germans, he says, now want to dispense with the use of poison gas,' and have begun a propaganda towards that end. "We are ready at any moment to relinquish it," says the enemy. Germany has. travelled too far and' Vide along' the paths of treachery and deceit to expect anything but suspicion for this new move. As the "high military authority" says:. ."If wo now voluntarily abstain from the use of gas, what guarantee is possible from Germany that sho .-will not spring another surprise on us?" That is the whole .point—what guarantee is possible from Germany?

The news from the Western front to-day is-brightcned by several good features.. The French in Lorraine have achieved a brilliant eotip by an extended series 'of raids, which resulted in a deep, penetration of the: enemy's .line .and a ."bag" of over 500 prisoners. The New. Zealanddrs, who have already a good record as' successful raiders, "have added-to their laurels by another exploit- at Polygon Wood,. . .The British line has been further lengthened' in ; the West -by an extension* of their' 'front from southward of St. Quentin to the Oise Eiver, an indication of the swelling numbers of the British legions. With a considerably shortened: front the'-French' troops, with the stiffening .leaven of fresh American troops, will have greater facilities for carrying out the kind of operations which seem to suit their temperament as soldiers-sudden, cleverly-planned o coups, executed with a dash and finish that completely outclasses the enemy, and weakens his morale. . There is yet no definite indication of the muchheralded Germaa offensive, but opinion inclines to a blow on the British sector at Gam'brai. ' A further cause for satisfaction and confidence in the coming struggle is the incontostfLble' superiority of thd Allies''in: the air. In four days' air fighting,_ on the British, French, and Italian fronts,-it is. pointed: out to-day, .the enemy lost .126 machines. The British'accounted for. To of .these—and lost 12 -only! ■ During the' present year we have invaded Germany on fifteen different occasions, all with definite results. The enemy's airmen have, raided, England five-times, witlrabortive result's' on two of these,.occasions,... . ~..