NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 97, 18 January 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Thbke now sccms..to be very little doubt that the Bolshevik faction has been heavily defeated in Berlin and is losing ground in Germany, though it cannot yet be regarded as of negligible importance. Router's correspondent at Berlin was quoted yesterday as stating that the National Assembly election campaign is in full_ swing, and the fact that he is at liberty to cable.the news in itself suggests that his. estimate of the situation is not unduly hopeful. Every step taken by. way of popular election towards setting up a stable Government of ■ course emphasises the defeat of the Bolsheviki, or Spartacusians as they are called in Germany, since they are a party not of democracy, but of terrorism. Such election results as have thus far been cabled indicate that moderate- par'ties, including the Majority Socialists, are assured of an overwhelming body of support. In llussia the victory of the moderate' parties at the polls went for nothing, since the party of anarchy gained its end by violence. It seems less likely as time goes on that matters will take this course, in Germany. . If the Spartacusians are unable to prevent elections being held it is improbable that they will be able to defy the verdict' of the', electors!

Much'as' interest centres in the question as to whether Germany is or is not. capable of averting a reign of terrorism and disorder, there is another aspect of the situation which equally deserves attention. This.is the absence of evidence that any considerable section in Germany repents of the crimes committed by the. nation and in itsname. Of the several groups which, as far as can be ; judged at present, are in the running in the electoral campaign, that which stands furthest removed from the displaced autocrats who ruled Germany during the war period is. the "party of the Majority Socialists. There is no great moral distinction to be drawn, however,.'.between'the members of ; tliis party and the worst Pan-Germans. From 1914 onwards the Majority Socialists not only submitted passively to the war party, but sought in' some ways to actively assist and promote' its projects, notably in their attempts to.work upon pacifist sentiment in Allied countries. ■ On their record, the Majority Socialists certainly cannot be regarded as standing for tho reformation and regeneration of and the absence of any party .which could be so regarded helps to darken the infamous reputation she gained during the war.

, Examples of the moral turpitude the German people have been afforded repeatedly. When plaintive complaints were made by the women of Germany and other sections of the population against the alleged severity of the armistice terms, French women replied by pointing out that when French and Belgian women and girls were being torn away from their homes and'deported, no' protest was raised in Germany. Only the-other day a case was mentioned in which the Allies were enabled to send out succour to a party of released prisoners who were in desperate straits, but from whom all help had been withheld b.v the German people in the districts through which they . passed. As evidence accumulates—and the arrangement of parties in the election . campaign affords important evidence—it seems to be increasingly clear that such examples are in'the fullest sense representative.

If it rested on military-prowess the long defence of Medina by the Turks would deserve to become one of the most famous achievements of its kind in history. Exactly at what time ,the Medina garrison was isolated has not yet been made known, but its continued resistance stood out as a remarkable fact when the Arabs were freely raiding thc.'Hejaz railway at Ma-an and other places foiir hundred miles and more further north months before General Allenby struck the decisive blow under which Turkish resistance collapsed. One of to-day's messages reports the capitulation of Medina on January 13, that is to say, after a siege of more than two years from the time when the Arabs raised the standard of revolt. The message, however, also brings out the fact that the length of tho siege was due-less to the fortitude of the Turkish garrison than to the nn-- • willingness of the Arabs to damage or devastate the holy : places of their faith. It was Arab veneration for the Prophet's tomb and the absence of means of speedy communication that made it possible for a Turkish garrison to hold out at Medina for. many weeks after the Porte had accepted dictated armistice terms: •