PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 144, 7 March 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

In his self-appointed role ol peace-negotiator, Lord Lansdownb has addi'essed another letter to the Press. The reception accorded to his first letter on the peaoe issue was far from complimentary. Nothing, in fact, could have been better suited for German consumption than the plea of a British Conservative peer and ox-Foreign Minister for a discussion on peace aims, and tho German Press, as was noted ■at the time, made ample use of the opportunity. 11l his second letter, Lord Lansdownb reviews certain points in Count von. Hertung's last statement on the peaco question, and says that on the whole it marks a step forward. The "dialogue," he thinks, might with advantage be continued. The effect of statements of the kind that Lord Lansdownb has beon making in the Press is merely to confuse the issues of the war. There has been more than sufficient evidence of tho German state of mind lately on the subject of peaco treaties—overwhelming evidence to show that Germany at present is in no mood for such elementary considerations as justice, equity, and • humanity. Lord Lansdowne's second letter will be circulated in Germany as a proof that Britain is weakening. Also," •it will be welcomed by the pacifists in the United Kingdom as a valuable addition to their noisy and mischievous propaganda. The pacifists in the United Kingdom, as Sir Auckland Geddes puts it in a speech reported this morning, are not numerous, but they are very vocal.

When the Turk entered the arena of'tho European war as an ally of the Central Powers the excuse and the opportunity for putting an end to the fiendish atrocities which had long marked the Turkish rule in' Armenia arrived. The developments of the war have deferred for the present a' settlement with the Turk regarding this question, and in the interim the unfortunate Armenians have suffered the horrors of a perfect saturnalia of outrage and massacre. To her everlasting shame, Germany has stood callouslv by on these dreadful occasions, an accessory—morally speaking, an accomplice. Coming after the horrors of Belgium, this indulgence of Turkish brutality occasioned ' no surprise, -simply strengthening the Allies' determination to rid the world of Prussian militarism and Turkish misrule. The Russian offensive operations under the Ghand Dukb NiCHObAS in 1016 brought a largo measure' of relief to tortured Armenia, but it has remained for the Germans, by a deliberate act, to revive the hideous regime of the Turk. That act is one of the conditions of the EussoGerman peace troaty. "For cynicism and callousness," remarks a writer in the Westminster Gazette, "th& thing is without parallel,_ and if it stands it will mean an inexhaustible legacy of trouble, strife, and discontent for the world." It is consoling to reflect that this and any other treaty that may bo made in ' Germany before tho close of the war will come up for review by the Allies in the final reckoning.

Sir. Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty, struck a note .of optimism in his spcech to the House of Commons on the Naval Estimates (reported this morning). The shipping losses for the five months ended February,' he told the Houso, wero 5 per cent, lower than for the previous fivo months, but, he says, the position with, regard to shipbuilding is less bright. Chiefly owing_ to labour troubles, British production has not yet overtaken tne losses— tho balancing point has been "dangerously postponed." Until the American yards are well under way, and American energy is beginning to show results, England must rely on her own resources during the critical days • that are ahead. Sir Eric Geddes makes a strong appeal to labour to cease its internal strife and apply itself to the defeat of the worst enemy of true democracy—Prussian militarism.

Until the meeting of the Soviet Congress on March 12, when the German peace_ treaty, will cither be ratified or rejected, tho Russian situation will be more or less in a state of suspense. There is a good deal of talk about resisting the peace terms, but there is also a fairly general recognition of the fact that in its present disorganised state the • Russian • Army—or what is left of it—can do nothing. The Cadet Party, of which M. Miliukoff is the leader, has issued a manifesto appealing to the country to rally to its defence in association "with Russia's Allies." "Tho calamaties of anarchy, deplorable as they are," it says, "cannot be compared with the horror of enslavement to a foreign yoke." This is tho first official indication of tho view of the better class Russian on the peace situation, and it amply sustains the hint published the'previous day by the Germam newspaper Vorwaerls, which said: "Russia will end the war unreconciled, and a policy of patriotic revanche, once it gets tho lead, will find it an easy game to play."