GERMANY'S NEW PEACE TERMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 136, 26 February 1918, Page 7

GERMANY'S NEW PEACE TERMS

BOLSHEVIKI TO DECIDE IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS

THE HAND Of PAN-GERMANISM By Tetecraph.--Presß Association-Copyright London, February 24. A Russian wireless message states that in replying to the Russian proposals of February 19 Germany on February 21 intimated her readiness to conclude peace on the following term s:— First: Germany and Russia to declare that the state of war has ended. Second: The regions west of the line indicated at Brest Litov.sk to the Russian delegation, formerly belonging to Russia, aro no longer under Russian territorial protection. In the region of Dvinsk this line must be advanced to the eastern frontier of Courland. Germany and Austria-Hungary- will defino the further fate of these regions in agreement with their populations. Third: Livonia and Esthonia must he immediately cleared of Russian troops and Red Guards, and be occupied by German police till security is guaranteed by their constitutions. Fourth: Russia will conoludc peace with the Ukraine and evacuate Ukraine and Finland. Fifth: Russia to do her utmost to secure the orderly return of the eastern Anatolian frontiers to Turkey. Sixth: Complete demobilisation of tho Russian Army. Seventh: The Russian fleets, including Entente warships, must he kept in Russian harbours till general peace is declared, or disarmed. Eighth: Russian-German commercial treaty of 1904 to como into force. Free export of ores must he guaranteed. A new commercial treaty must be negotiated. Ninth: Legal and political relations to bo regulated in accordance with the first German-Russian convention. Tenth: Russia prornisesto end propaganda against Germany, AustriaHungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Eleventh: The conditions must be accepted within'forty-eight hours. Russian plenipotentiaries must sign at Brest Litovsk within three days the peace treaty, which must be ratified in a fortnight. GERMAN TERMS ACCEPTED (Rec. February 25, 8 p.m.) London, February 24. • A Russian official report states: "Lenin and Trotsky have sent a message to Berlin conveying Russia's acceptance of the German peace conditions. They are sending a delegation to Brest Litovsk."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable As.su.-Reuter. BOLSHEVIK COLLAPSE COMPLETE STATEMENT BY LENIN AND TROTSKY. (Rec. February 25, 8.30 p.m.) Petrograd, February 24. Lenin, when urging the acceptance of the German peace terras, stated that their retreating and demoralised Army refused to fight. He declined to remain in a Government which relied on mere phrases. The Commissaries had suppressed tho anti-Soviet papers and ordered the managers to continue to pay wages to their staffs. A wild panic had seized the Seventh and Eleventh Armies, which were retreating in disorder. Trotsky, in an interview, declared: "We nave no army. The troops have been in a state of rebellion for three months. Crowds of soldiers have continued to live in the trenches, but havo waited the first chance to escape."— "The Times."

ALL GRASP OF THE SITUATION GONE,

(Rec. February 25, 8 p.m.)

Potrograd, February 24. Many of the non-Bolshevik Socialists favour a guerrilla warfare, believing that the proletariat of the Central Powers will yet rise. The Commissaries, however, plead that they must, like defeated strikers, accept the enemv's terms and rescue the country and the revolution from ruin and exhaustion. The Commissaries are- issuing a pandemonium of decrees, proclamations, and exhortations, first stating that the Germans intend to restore the landlords, the bankers, and the monarchy, and calling on nil the workers to enrol in the Red Army and expel from the ranks anel wipe off the face of the earth all the hooligans and cowards, then, an hour later, announcing their readiness to accept the German terms. Perplexed peasants and soldiers are hurrying back to their villages faster than ever. The new national forces will necessarilv be raised from the unemployed, whose increasing numbers, owing to the Bolshevik policy of closing the mills and factories, are becoming a serious danger.—"The Times."