New Britain herald., 1917-07-25
FORESEES DISASTER
 FOR THE RUSSIANS
Arthur Henderson Believes Iron
 Rod Must Not Be Spared

Lndon, July 25.-A great tragedy is being enacted in the life of the free Itusslan people, according to Arthur f1ehderson, member of the British war council and representative Of lapof' who has just returned from an eNtehded visit to Russia. He is con- Nlhced that unless the situation is handled with firmness there must be an inevitable disaster
 Mr' Henderson said it was nothing less than misfortune that the con- tlnuance of the coalition governmen had proved impossible. The difficult tles the government had to cope with were such as no other government ever experienced. It was impossible to convey anything like an adequate conception of the extent to which the extremists dominated the life of the capital, demoralizing the army and navy, especially those units in close proximity to Petrograd
 The true extremists, he said, did not represent more than small mil norlty of the population. but such had been the spirit of terror exercised, to- gether with their destructive influence over certain sections of the military forces, that they had succeeded in making a stable government difficult, if not almost impossible.
 MT. Henderson considered that the most disastrous experiment of the revolution was the relaxation of disci- pl1ne Tn the army and navy, coupled with the direct association of those services with the political and revo- lutlonary propaganda. The resump- tion of the offensive caused the ex- %rar fCytc e1S l,J although they had the wisdom to re- main quiet while victories were being gained it was generally recognized that they were waiting for an Oppor- tunity for the move recently made with such disastrous consequences.
 eff Russia is to rise to the greatness of her possibilities the forces of dis order must be resolutely dealt with v continued Mr. Henderson. "The fu- ture. judging from the recent past, is largely in the hands of the new Work mems and Soldiers Council, elected by the All Russia Congress, which repre- sents a large section of the commun- ity whose representatives are likely to become the dominant party in the constituent Assem- bly,
 The Russians, said Mr. Henderson, SoiISSi the conference of the Allies, includin g the United States because they hoped it would enable them to announce that the war treaties had been revised in the direction of renunciation of all in tentions inconsistent with their own declarations. They said frankly they were ermined-keeping Constanti- nople in mind and having doubts re- garding Mesopotamia--no to leave the settlement of the paramount ts- sues of the war to chance decisions of a meeting of diplomats. Until this position was clarified he doubted whether the whole army or a major1- tv of the moderate Socialists, upon whom so much depended, would give of their best for the successful prose- cutiOn of the war
 The Russian Socialists. he said. were strong advocates of an international conference He discussed the subject with M Tseretelii Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, just before leaving Petrograd. M. Tseretelli urged the importance of such a conference and of Great Britain being represented.