GERMANY'S TREATIES OF PEACE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 156, 21 March 1918, Page 5

GERMANY'S TREATIES OF PEACE

CANNOT BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY ALLIES THE MERCILESS PASSION FOR DOMINATION By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright London, March 19. The Press Bureau has issued the following statement: "The Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of the Entente, assembled in London; feel bound to take note of the political crimes under the name of peace which have been committed against the Russian people. Russia was unarmed, and, forgetting that for four years Germany has been fighting against the independence of rations and the rights of mankind, the Russian Government, m a mood of singular credulity, expected to obtain by persuasion 'the democratic peace which Russia had failed to obtain by war. The armistice had not expired when tho Germans, contrary t« their pledge, transferred troops en masse westwards. Russia was so weak that she did not protest against this flagrant violation of Germany's plighted word. . . "AVhen the German peace was translated into action it was found to involve invasion of Russian territory and the destruction or capture of all Russia's means of defence, and the organisation of Russian lands to Germany fl , profit] Those proceedings do not differ from annexation because that word has been carefully avoided. Meanwhile the Russians, who had made military operations impossible, found diplomacy impotent, and their i-epresentativen wero compelled to proclaim that while they refused to read the treaty they had no choice but to sign it. They signed it not knowing whether it meant peace-or war; nor could they measure the degree to which tho national life of Russia had been reduced' by it to a shadow. "Poland is ilireatened with a fourth partition, and the devices by which the last trace of her independence is to be crushed are based on_ fraudulent promises of freedom. Rumania is also overwhelmed by the merciless passion for domination. Wo do not, and cannot, acknowledge siioh peace treaties. "Wo mean to continue the fight in order to finish once and for all this policy of plunder, and to establish a peaceful reign of organised justies."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Router. ALLIES' DECLARATION TO RUSSIAN COMMISSARY ON 1 FOREIGN AFFAIRS DECREES REPUDIATING DEBTS WITHOUT FORCE. London, March 19 Mr. A. J. Balfour (Foreign Minister) stated that the' Allies have forwarded a declaration to tho Russian Commissary on Foreign Affairs, stating that the decrees repudiating debts and confiscating property, and other analogous measures, are without force, and that the Allies reserve the right to claim damages from the Russian Government for any losses caused to Allied subjects. Russia has not replied.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. VOTING ON PEACE QUESTION A MERE FORMALITY London, March 18. The "Daily Chronicle's" Moscow correspondent states that the voting of the Congress on the peace question was a more formality. The Bolsheviki have cultivated the art of packing caucuses to an unsurpassed degree. Hundreds of delegates will shudder at tne readiness with which they consented to the partition of Russia. The peace with Germany by no means implies peace at home. Wholesale murder is a normal feature of Russian life. Five hundred bourgeoisie were murdered in a single night at Glukhov.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ALLIED ASSISTANCE FOR RUSSIA IMPERATIVE / London, March 19. The "Daily Chronicle's" Petrograd correspondent states that a German Commission of Control is expected in two or three days. Its presence must produce a marjeed change in the internal situation. All intelligent Russians realise that Allied assistance for Russia at Hie present stage of tho war is imperative. All patriots would heartily support any intervention that would clearly represent a disinterested combined movement by all the Governments for the liberation of Russia, and would uot imply domination or permanent occupation of a country which has traditionally unique elements of strength and great power of resilience.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. SOVIETS URGED TO RENEW THE FIGHT AGAINST GERMANY New York, March 19. Seven hundred foreign language newspapers in the United States, representing ten million readers, have sent a message to the Russian Soviets, urging tm? renewal of the'fight against Germany.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. RESISTANCE AGAINST GERMANS IN ODESSA REGION BEING ORGANISED. New York, March 19. The United Press correspondent at Petrograd states that tho Russian officials who opposed tho ratification of tho German peace treaty are organising resistance against the Germans in the Odessa region. Tho Germans have occupied Bachrnatuch, Konotop, and Veroshba, in tho Ukraine region. Tlio Germans are reported to bo continuing their advance toward Karsk and Chnrk'off.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. MASSACRE BY SAILORS AT SEBASTOPOL . GRISLY EXPERIENCE OF A DIVER. London, March 18. The "Daily Chronicle's" correspondent at Moscow states that tlic sailors at Sobastopol decided to execute a general massacre in two streets inhabited by well-to-do people, and tho bodies were thrown into the sea. The widow of a murdered man asked a diver to bring up her husband. After a few minutes' immersion tho diver was drawn up on tho verge of insanity, and said that, the bodies of thn murdered wero thrown into the sea with stones tied to their feet. The diver found a throng standing upright l 'and swaying to and fro.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. RUSSIAN TROOPS TAKING SLAVES FROM THE CAUCASUS. New York, March 19. The "New York Globe's" Petrograd correspondent states that Russian troops from the Caucasus have arrived at Fcodosia (Knffa, on the cast side of the Crimea), bringing many women slaves bought in the Caucasus by the soldiers. Tho slaves were resold on the market, at from twelve to a hundred dollars, to he used as labourers and domestics.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.