General

favor until the end of the war. Brusiloff added that, in his personal view, even from the beginning of the war, the adversaries of Russia had never had the smallest possibility of winning a decisive victory, but that, while these adversaries continued to report a succession of victories in the field, it would be difficult to persuade them that they were certain to be defeated. The situation in Rumania, though grave, was not such as to cause real alarm, and had, so far, no strategic importance, from the point of view of the general plan of the Allies.

66

The Czar first met Rasputin in 1905 through the Countess Ignatieff, wife of a former Governor of Siberia and much interested in the cult of the Chlysty," a sect of flagellants, which Rasputin was trying to revive. In the Countess's circle, where the Czar was then an occasional visitor, were the Montenegrin Princess Militza, wife of the Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Prince Putjatin, Court Marshal; Count Benckendorff, Prince Orloff, and, finally, General Soukhomlinoff. The latter was the Russian War Minister during the fatal campaign in East Prussia, when traitors were believed to have betrayed the Russian armies in the field and left them without reserves of munitions at home. In June, 1915, Soukhomlinoff resigned and was later arrested and lodged in the Fortress of Peter and Paul. Rasputin was suspected of participation in the betrayal of military plans to the Ger

mans.

It has been said that when the war began the genuine Muscovites gradually dropped away from the circle, leaving only Baltic Russians with German ideas

behind, and that the circle then became the centre of German propaganda, to which Brusiloff referred in April, 1916, when he took command of the southern Russian armies and said to the war correspondents:

"Not a line can you write from herenot a message will go forth till something happens. In Petrograd they have a switchboard with connections with Ber

lin."

RE

** * *

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN WAR LOANS ETURNS from the fifth Austrian war loan show 4,412,800,000 crowns (nominally $895,798,000) subscribed with approximately 300,000,000 additional already subscribed but still outstanding. The loan is thus the largest yet raised in Austria. The first levy was 2,217,000,000 crowns, the second 2,688,320,000, the third 4,202,600,000, the fourth 4,520,300,000. The new loan makes the total raised for war by Austria about 18,400,000,000 crowns. Subscriptions to the Hungarian fifth war loan reached 2,300,000,000 crowns, ($460,000,000 normal exchange,) as compared with 1,175,000,000 for the first, 1,132,000,000 for the second, 1,970,000,000 for the third, and 2,000,000,000 for the fourth.

* * *

SERGEANT JULIEN AT DOUAUMONT

ON

N the evening of the great attack, by which General Nivelle and General Mangin won back the famous fort of Douaumont, Sergeant Julien of the Thirteenth Company, sent out for supplies, losing his way in the dark, was captured by a wandering band of German soldiers, who bound him and took him to a German dugout, which was now, though unknown to its occupants, well within the new French lines. The Germans asked him who he was, how he had come there, and, when, bewildered, he hesitated in his answers, reminded him that they were not inclined to stand on ceremony with a prisoner. Prisoner?" replied Sergeant Julien; "that remains to be seen! First of all, where are we? At the La Dame ravine? Well, then, listen to this! Thiaumont is in our hands! Douaumont has been ours since this afternoon. You are the only people

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No story could better illustrate the extraordinary suddeness with which General Nivelle's offensive was carried out than this almost fantastic tale, which is, nevertheless, well attested.

IT

** * *

THE ISLES OF GREECE

T has just been announced that England and France have taken possession of the Island of Cerigo, at the southeastern extremity of the Morea, the southern peninsula of Greece, which is, strictly speaking, no longer a peninsula but an island, since the cutting of the canal across the Isthmus of Corinth. The occupation is justified by the fact that there have been submarine bases in this and other islands. It further complicates the situation of the Grecian Isles.

Corfu, one of the Ionian Islands ceded to Greece by England when Prince George of Denmark was made King of Greece, has been for some time in the hands of France, which there fitted out the rejuvenated Serbian Army. Crete has recently declared itself independent of Greece, after seeking union through many turbulent years. Imbros and Tenedos, which the Greek fleet captured in the Balkan war of 1912, were returned, under the treaties of London and Athens, to Turkey, and are now used as bases by the Allies.

The famous islands along the AsianIonian coast-Mitylene, Chios, Samos, and Rhodes have not been greatly affected by the war; they are still under Turkish sovereignty. But they belong to European, not to Asian, history, and here, perhaps, Italy reaps her reward for more extensive action in the Balkans. Cerigo, by the way, is the ancient Cythera, from which Aphrodite took the

from Europe, and the reference to the Amenian massacres as a justification of this determination, draw attention to the report just issued under the editorship of Viscount Bryce, copious extracts from which appeared in CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE for last November. In his younger days Mr. Bryce was an enthusiastic Alpine climber; as such he visited the Caucasus and was one of the first, if not the first, to climb to the top of Mount Ararat and other summits in the Armenian region. He therefore knows the country well. Lord Bryce thus sums the matter up: "The grav

est facts are those for which the evidence is most complete, and it all tallies fatally with that which twenty years ago established the guilt of Abdul Hamid for the deeds that have made his name infamous. In this case there are, moreover, what was wanting then, admissions which add weight to the testimony here presented-I mean the admissions of the Turkish Government and their German apologists. The attempt made to find excuses for wholesale slaughter and for the removal of a whole people from its homes leave no doubt as to the slaughter and the removal. The main facts are established by the confession of the criminals themselves."

countries the American note was officially approved, except by Spain, and the general attitude of the neutral public seemed amiably complaisant toward the movement. In the United States the comment was mixed - extreme pro-ally sympathizers were emphatic in denouncing the entire procedure as inopportune and ill-advised, and Secretary Lansing came in for extremely acrid criticism for his explanations. Pacifists, pro-Germans, and partisans of the President applauded his course and prophesied that it would bring about peace. Three weeks later, when the Allies' reply had been received, opinions everywhere had changed, and President Wilson was strongly commended throughout the world for having pursued a judicious and statesmanlike

course.

Indorsed by the Senate

The following resolution was introduced Dec. 20, 1916, in the United States Senate by Senator Hitchcock, (Democrat, of Nebraska :)

Resolved, That the Senate approves and strongly indorses the action taken by the President in sending the diplomatic notes of Dec. 18 to the nations now engaged in war, suggesting and recommending that those nations state the terms upon which peace might be discussed.

The resolution was the cause of a notable debate, in which Senators Borah and Lodge took the position that the passage of the resolution in the form offered would commit the United States to a program supporting an international League to Enforce Peace-after the war-and would mean the abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine and the precipitation of the United States into the political complications and alliances of Europe.

The opposition to the resolution was so ably presented that its supporters were in the end convinced, and finally accepted the following modification, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the Senate approves and strongly indorses the request of the President in the diplomatic notes of Dec. 18 to the nations now engaged in war that those nations state the terms upon which peace might be discussed.

Seventeen votes were recorded against the resolution as finally amended, and 47 in the affirmative.

Senator Borah's Parallel

Senator Borah of Idaho, in his speech opposing the original resolution, used the following illustration, which is characteristic of his argument:

It means not only the abandonment of the doctrine of neutrality established by Washington, but it means the abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine announced by Monroe upon the mature advice of Jefferson. Take some of the illustrations which show the dangerous course upon which we are about to enter if we indorse such a policy, and I am going to use the names of some of the nations, although in doing so of course I am not to be considered as using them because I either fear them or would offend them, but simply as an illustration.

We will assume now that the partnership of which the President spoke has been formed, that the co-operation has been completed and the combined alliance has been made, and in that combination and alliance are Japan and Russia and the United States, and we will assume that after the combination is made Russia and Japan have a dispute as to rights in Manchuria. Japan insists that it should be submitted to the arbitral tribunal. Russia insists that it involves her vital interests, refuses to submit it, and moves her troops immediately to the contested territory. Under the league alliance which we have formed and the treaties which we have made we must join with Japan in enforcing or punishing Russia for refusing to submit her proposition to the tribunal.

Let us take another illustration. We will assume that Mexico has been restored to law and order as a Government, and that Mexico is a member of the alliance, and that Japan is a member of the alliance, and that Mexico conceived the idea of leasing Magdalena Bay to Japan for ninety-nine years, and we protest against it. We have already joined the alliance. They are members of it. Mexico says, Certainly I have a right to dispose of my territory," and Japan says, "I have a right to purchase," and they are all members of a common league bound together for a common purpose. Would the United States submit that question to a tribunal where it has but one vote or one voice and permit its entire future to be disposed of by a court where it has but a single representative?

The "Leak" Episode

Another episode growing out of the note was a declaration in the House of Representatives that the intention to send the note had "leaked out" from official sources several days in advance to certain Stock Exchange firms, and that various Government officials in high station had profited enormously on the stock market by the "inside tip." Congress or