New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27
No Great Obstacles
To Peace Between
Austria and Russia
And in the
Balkans
Nv FRANK n. SlMONDS
,,,b,, If "The Great War" They Shall
Not Pass

II would he very great mistake to dis
,,iss as merely visionary the demand of
n. Russian Revolution that there should
| !, world peace and that this world peace
| ,lould be based upon the principle Of no
/ ,,reystion and no indemnity. II is true
| A,, at tho moment this proposal finds a
b,srine only in Russia, and is rejected by
] Germany and by the Allied nations alike,
although for very different reasons. But
N. situation may be altogether changed
4 winter comes without a decision on
ether side or any unmistakable evidence
Al the approach Of decision.
We have seen in recent weeks very
,lar evidence that Austria is ready to
4 make peace on the basis of things as they
urs in July, 1914. We have the firm
z declaration of the Russian Revolution in
favor of such programme. Here are
+, h. two nations whose quarrel opened the
,ay TO the conflict prepared to give over
n, struggle, and it should be remarked
hat with these declarations or intima-
ions there vanish some of the most ex-
rnsive proposals for the alteration of the
zap Of Europe.
Turkey and Russia Near Accord
A. the present moment Russia has
/ ,bandoned her claim to the Straits and to
Constantinople; she no longer asks to
1 establish her rule on the ruins Of Turkey
! in Europe and merely asks free passage
4 through the Straits, which the Turks and
their allies are prepared to give her.
Thus expires any reason for the prolonga-
ton Of a war between Turkey and Russia
for the problem of Armenia is not difficult
10 settle.
In abandoning her claim upon Galicia
Russia surrenders any plan that would
rge Austria to continue at war with
Russia. for with the surrender of the
Calcian dream Russia very manifestly
throws over all Rumanian dreams of ex-
psnsion at the expense Of Hungary. Since
The Russians have declined to make the
cause Of the Slavs in Galicia basis for
continued war, there is small chance that
they will long insist upon war merely to
10 for the Rumaniars of Pennsylvania
and Bukovina what they will not do for
their own brothers in Austrian territory.
Granted that the present Russian pro-
posal prevails in Russia and continues to
be the driving force of Russian policy, we
nav dismiss at once all but one OF the
great proposals for changes in the map OF
Europe between the Danube and the Bal
tic. This single exception is the case Of
Poland. The Russians have agreed to the
liberation of Poland; they have frankly
and freely and in the spirit of the revolu-
ton indorsed the idea of Polish freedom.
But this must mean the freedom OF the
Poles in Austria as we'll as in Russian Po-
land. No mi-autonomous Polish state,
actually under German tutelage, actually
found to the Prussian autocracy, will sat
isfy the ideas of the Russian Revolution.
Nor is il less clear that once portion OF
Poland is free the Austrian Poles, the
sblest most intelligent, most energetic OF
all, will insist upon joining the new king
dom. For Austria to refuse would be to
throw the great Polish element into the
opposition, and in recent years it has only
been BY a coalition Of the Poles with the
Magyars and Germans of the Dual Mon
srrhy that the Hapsburg empire has been
preserved.
A New Poland