GREAT BRITAIN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.-General elections were held in the United Kingdom on Dec. 14, for the first time under the wider suffrage. Little apparent interest was taken in the political campaign. The election gave an increased parliamentary majority for the present government. LLOYD GEORGE ON ALLIES' WAR BILL.-Bristol, England, December II (Associated Press).—The war bill of the Allies against Germany is £24,000,000,000 ($120,000,000,000), according to the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, who spoke before a large gathering here to-day. Before the war the estimated wealth of Germany, said the Premier, was £15,000,000,000 to £20,000,000,000 sterling, so that if the whole wealth of Germany were taken, he said, there would not be enough to pay the account, therefore, he had before this used the words, Germany should pay to the utmost limit of her capacity." He The Premier stated that the war had cost Germany less than it had cost Great Britain. It had cost Great Britain, he stated, £8,000,000,000 ($40,000,000,000)- -a gigantic sum. The German bill, he believed, was £6,000,000,000 ($30,000,000,000) or £7,000,000,000, ($35,000,000,000). contended that it was indefensible that the person who was in the wrong and had lost should pay less than the person who was declared to be in the right and had won. Demands Full Cost of War.-The Premier said that a British Imperial Commission had been appointed to investigate the capacity of Germany (to pay) and that he had received its report. He summarized his remarks on this point as follows: First As far as justice is concerned we have an absolute right to demand the whole cost of the war from Germany. Second-We propose to demand the whole cost of the war from Germany. Third-When you come to the exacting of it, we must exact in such a way that it does not do more harm to the country that receives it than the country that is paying for it. Fourth-The committee appointed by the British Cabinet believes that that can be done. Fifth--The Allies are in exactly the same boat. We shall put in our demands all together and whatever they are they must come in front of the German war debt. The Prime Minister continued: "The first consideration in the minds of the Allies will be the interests of the people upon whom the Germans have made war, and not in the interests of the German people who have made war and have been guilty of that crime." Total Claims.-The bill of $120,000,000,000, which Premier Lloyd George said at Bristol yesterday the Allies had against Germany, is evidently based upon the accounts which the various allies have against the Berlin Government, and which approximates their actual expenditures for the war, plus damages in certain cases. According to returns calculated by the Metals National Bank of New York, these expenditures amount to $123,400,000,000, distributed as follows: $41,500,000,000 Great Britain 18,000,000,000 26,800,000,000 21,500,000,000 France Russia Italy Belgium, etc. Total 8,500,000,000 7,100,000,000 .$123,400,000,000 -N. Y. Times, 12/12. BELGIUM BELGIAN GOVERNMENT REESTABLISHED IN BRUSSELS.-On Nov. 22, King Albert again addressed the Belgian Parliament in the redeemed capital city. In his speech he promised universal and equal suffrage and equal rights to both Flemings and Waloons. Belgium, he declared, would no longer trust to a guaranteed neutrality but would "rule its destinies according to its aspirations and in full sovereignty." At the time of King Albert's re-entry into Brussels President Wilson sent this congratulatory telegram: "At the moment that you re-enter Brussels at the head of your victorious army, may I not express the great joy that it gives to me and to the American people to hail your return to your capital, marking your final triumph in this way, which has cost your nation so much suffering, but from which it will arise in new strength to a higher destiny? The new Belgian ministry consists of six Catholics, three Liberals, and three Socialists, with M. Hymans as Minister of Foreign Affairs. GERMANY CROWN PRINCE RENOUNCES CLAIM TO THRONE.-Crown Prince Frederick William has renounced his right to the German throne. A dispatch received in Basle from the semi-official Wolff Bureau in Berlin quotes the renunciation as follows: I renounce formally and definitely all rights to the Crown of Prussia and the Imperial Crown, which would have fallen to me by the renunciation of the Emperor-King, or for other reasons. Given by my authority and signed by my hand; done at Wieringen, Dec. 1, 1918. WILHELM. EX-KAISER ASKED TO LEAVE HOLLAND.-Holland is just awakening to the danger of harboring the Hohenzollerns. The question of the ex-Kaiser was again brought up in the Second Chamber yesterday, and after he has been here one month it is decided that he is an unwelcome guest and that the Government would have preferred for him not to come to Dutch territory. The Premier's statement that Wilhelm abdicated Nov. 9, but that the Dutch Minister only communicated the facts Nov. 27, is considered worthy of further investigations. The New York Times correspondent learns from official Dutch circles that the ex-Kaiser is to be unofficially but definitely informed within the next few days, if not to-day, that he is persona non grata to Holland, and that, moreover, he is a menace to the state. This coincides with the statements in the Second Chamber. If he refuses to take the hint, it is likely that official steps will be taken. On asking where the ex-Kaiser would be sent The Times correspondent received the answer: That is not Holland's business, but he can only go to Germany."N. Y. Times, 14/12. THE HAGUE, DECEMBER 16.-The Amsterdam Telegraaf reports this morning that the ex-Kaiser has been requested to leave the country voluntarily, owing to the precarious position of Holland if her hospitality to him continues. According to the Telegraaf, the ex-monarch refuses to heed the request. ARMISTICE APPEALS MUST GO TO ALL ALLIES.--The State Department has given formal notice to Germany and Austria, through the legations in charge of the interests of those Governments here, that the United States insists that communications addressed to the United States Government or to the President of the United States as to the terms of armistice or as to other matters in which the associated governments are alike concerned should be sent to all the associated governments and not to this government alone. This is the second request along this line which the State Department has made to the enemy countries. The latest note, which Acting Secretary Polk has sent to the Swiss and Swedish legations for transmission to Germany and Austria, is brought out particularly by a communication from the National Council of Lemburg, regarding boundary lines, and brought out also by various other communications received from Austria and Germany which bore no evidence of having been similarly communicated to the governments associated with the United States.-Official Bulletin, 10/12. SOLF QUITS FOREIGN OFFICE.-At the end of November the Executive Committee of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council in Germany demanded that the People's Commissioners dismiss Foreign Secretary W. S. Solf, who had held over from the old régime. This demand on the part of the radical faction was first pushed by Kurt Eisner, Premier of Bavaria, who threatened the separation of Bavaria, unless the central government rid itself of men regarded as not in full sympathy with the extreme Socialist wing. Though this policy of the radicals received slight support, it was announced on Dec. 11 that Dr. Solf had handed in his resignation, which had been accepted by the Ebert-Haase Cabinet. EBERT CABINET GAINS STRENGTH.-Following its establishment, the Ebert government in Germany steadily strengthened its control. On Nov. 24 the Liebknecht faction attempted in vain to force itself into power. On the night of Dec. 6 apparently prearranged rioting and disorder occurred in Berlin, which, however, instigated, demonstrated that the established government was receiving general support. On this occasion the Executive Committee of the Soldiers' and Workers' Council was arrested, apparently without authorization, by a body of soldiers. They were at once released by order of the government. A crowd of about 500, formed to secure the release of the arrested committee, was in the meantime fired upon by guards, with the result that 12 or 15 were killed and some 50 wounded. While this was going on, a long column of soldiers and sailors marched down the Wilhelm strasse to the Chancellor's Building and their leader in a speech condemned the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council and attempted to proclaim Ebert President of the German Republic. Ebert declined in the following words: "Comrades and friends, I am unwilling to accept your offer without first having consulted my colleagues in the government. This is so serious a matter that it must be left to the Council of the People's Commissioners." MEETING OF SOVIET COUNCIL, DECEMBER 16.—In the palace of the Prussian Diet in Berlin, the National Conference of Soldiers' and Workers' Councils assembled, some 450 in number, on Dec. 16. More than half of them were ex-soldiers still in field gray, with a few ex-officers, and the remainder chiefly of the "hard working, deep thinking type of factory employee." One of the first acts of the Conference was to defeat decisively a resolution introduced by the Spartacus group proposing that Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg be invited to attend the gathering. The People's Commissioners, Ebert, Barth, Haase, Rittmann, Landsberg, and Schiedemann, together with the Executive Committee of the Council, occupied the benches reserved for the government under the old régime. Richard Müller, one of the two presidents of the Executive Committee of the Soldiers' and Workers' Council, opened the meeting. He was followed by Commissioner Ebert, who dwelt in his speech on the future of the socialist republic and insisted on the necessity of establishing a stable government. The sentiment of the meeting indicated that the National Assembly, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, would be held early in January. SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE THE ADRIATIC PROBLEM.-One of the most serious danger points in European international relations at present is the conflict between Italians and Jugoslavs regarding the proper boundary between the two nations east of the Adriatic. The Treaty of London in April, 1915, on the basis of which Italy entered the war, allotted to Italy, if she could get it, the annexation of Austrian territory east of the Adriatic, including all of Gorizia-Gradisca and Istria, with the City of Trieste, together with the coastal province of Dalmatia as far as a line just north of Spalato, and most of the Dalmatian Islands. (See map.) In this region there were several hundred thousand Italians and nearly a million Jugoslavs-Slovenes and Croats in Istria and GoriziaGradisca, Serbo-Croats in Dalmatia. Each side claims that the Austrian census figures are falsified in favor of the other, and there is dispute as to geographical distribution of the races. Generally, however, it may be said that the Italian population predominates in the western part of Gorizia-Gradisca and Istria, and in several of the chief seaports. The population of the back country and of the islands is almost wholly Slav. Knowledge of the Italian aspirations excited many Jugoslav troops in the Austro-Hungarian Army to fight willingly against the Italians; but. many thousands of them, placed against the Russians or Serbs, surrendered without fighting and were presently formed into Jugoslav legions which fought hard in the allied armies. The fact that the Serbian people were to be included in the proposed unified State of Jugoslavia, and that they were deeply interested in the welfare of all parts of the race, made the question very largely one between two allies. A large section of the liberal Italian press, most notably the Corriere della Sera of Milan, protested against the annexation program whose most active official supporter was the Foreign Minister, Baron Sydney Sonnino; and when Trotzky published the text of the London treaty last winter further protests followed. This favored the movement toward cooperation between the two nations, which would divide the coast of the Adriatic between them in the event of the defeat of Austria-Hungary; it was argued by many of their leaders that they were natural allies, threatened by the common Austro-Hungarian danger. So, after the Italian defeat at Caporetto an agreement was signed between Dr. Ante Trumbitch, President of the Jugoslav Committee, and Andrea della Torre, a well-known Italian journalist representing the elements friendly to the Jugoslavs, which suggested as a solution that territorial questions should be settled on the basis of self-determination, "with due regard to ital interests of the two peoples," and that full |