New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-18

His two emotions were comprehehded III
the determination to have done with the
old masters and TO end the war they had
pluneed him into without his consent and
without regard to his rights or even to
his life.
Il would be the part of folly now to
assail this Russian people in the first
hours Of their freedom because they have
failed to march with us in the cause we
believe is their cause. It would be a mis-
take, while asserting that we fight for
democracy, to assail nation whose course,
whose policy is palpably and individually
shaped by the will Of the masses Of the
Russian people 1t is the right OF the
Russian people to make peace if they
choose and as they choose. Moreover no
man can now mistake the fact that from
the morning of the Revolution the over
mastering desire Of the Russian people
has been TO make peace, and that they have
welcomed the Bolsheviki, accepted Trotzky
and Lenine. because, whatever their per-
sonal motives, these men have not only
promised peace but have taken the neces-
sary steps to attain peace.
Russia, for reasons comprehensive and
bv no means culpable, has determined to
make peace with Germany. This deter
rination is the determination Of the vast
majority of the Russian people. We may
hold them blind and misguided, but VIC
must not mistake the fact that under our
theory of democracy they are entitled
to shape their own policy. 1t is idle and
it is folly to rail at Russia--it is even in
consistent with our own faith as pro-
claimed again and again, in our assertion
that we are fighting for democracy.
In sum, it is essential to recognize that
Russia has left our alliance, that there
was never any chance of retaining her
after the Revolution, and there is not the
smallest prospect Of regaining her now.
This war was not declared with the con-
sent of the Russian people; they were
never engaged in honor to fight it-they
have not deserted a cause to which their
loyalty was engaged. They have blindly,
unwisely. madly-the adjective does not
matter-but Enthusiastically rejected a share
in il. They are gone, and we who are left
must face the fact, fight on as VIC can and
make the greater effort that will now be
demanded to attain the end which we ali
desire to attain: the protection Of liberty
the assertion of law, the defence Of hui
mainly.
1t is a great pity that many are per-
mitted still TO cherish the empty fiction
that some other set Of words, uttered by
some Allied statesman, might have
changed the course Of events in Russia.
This is to misunderstood the fundamental
facts in Russia and breed new discomfort
and fresh distrust in the Allied publics. The
Russian situation, like that of France in
1889, was beyond the cure Of words. Had
Germany attacked the Revolution in Russia
as Europe attacked the French Revolu-
ton, Russia might have fought as did
France. But for nothing else would she
fight Her eyes we're fixed on her own
problems. Her hopes. her purposes, were
concentrated upon her own ills and
agonies. The allies of old Russia might
Join the new in seeking peace-or they
might fight on. Revolutionary Russia
was willing to lead; she was not willing
to listen or to follow.
This situation will not change in any
time near enough to affect the course of
the war. II is idle TO cling 70 hopes of Rus
sian resurgence and to dreams of new
Russian armies advancing on the Vistula
or the Dniester.
Russia has left US, the United States is
taking the Russian place, and in another
year will be able TO fill it, Meantime, it is
for all Of US to face facts and dismiss illu-
sions. The war will be won by the present
alliance against Germany if it has the
courage and the determination to stand
firmly now in the presence of the last des-
perate offensive of an enemy whose defeat
is assured, whose defeat has wellnigh
been achieved, whose victory would be
the downfall of all we love and hold to be
worth living for in this world
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Another CONVOY DESTROYED